South African consumers are expected to spend 12% more this holiday season, while Europeans might spend less to absorb food and energy price increases, the annual Deloitte year-end holiday survey said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Rodger George said despite a cooling in optimism towards holiday spending, SA consumers still remained more optimistic about their economy than all the other countries surveyed in the annual survey.
”They will spend 12% more than in previous years, while most European consumers will restrict their 2007 Christmas budget to absorb food and energy price increases.”
George said this year’s holiday survey revealed how consumers perceived the changing environment and how it would impact on their shopping attitude.
”Less will be spent on gifts and more on food in order to balance the budget; and more consumers will search for alternatives to imported toys when quality is in question.”
He said the holiday season created a great opportunity to measure shoppers’ perceptions, attitudes and behavior throughout the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region.
The survey indicated that Europeans were worried about a weakening of their economies in 2008.
”Only 28% believe the economy will improve while 41% believe it will deteriorate, so the desire to spend is curbed by limited purchasing power: 53% believe they have less to spend.”
In contrast, 52% of SA respondents believed that the economy was in a state of growth while a further 28,9% believed the economy was stable.
However, 38% of SA shoppers also believed that they would have less to spend than in the previous year. – Sapa