Last-minute Christmas spending approaches £12 billion

This Christmas, people are planning to spend more on their festive shopping than they did last year. With only a week to go until Christmas, new research from Sainsbury’s Credit Cards indicates that the nation intends to spend some £11.85 billion during the last week before Christmas - £2.7 billion more than the bank’s research identified this time last year.

Sainsbury’s Bank research says that around 18% of this last-minute spending – some £2.1 billion - will be placed on credit cards. Around 8.6 million people intend to put half or more of their last-minute Christmas shopping on their credit cards. The corresponding figure for last year was 6.5 million people.

Donald MacLeod, Head of Cards, Sainsbury’s said: “Credit cards can be a safe and convenient way to do your Christmas shopping and some provide great rewards for using them. There are a number of credit cards to choose from all offering different terms and conditions so it is important to ensure that you have the right one for you. For example, as well as offering 0% interest on introductory purchases and balance transfers, our new credit card rewards customers every time they shop,
giving Nectar points equivalent to 2% cashback on Sainsbury’s purchases."

The bank’s research reveals that around 1.4 million people intend to spend more than £1,000 during the last seven days before Christmas and a further 4.4 million people intend to spend between £501 and £1,000. During this period, on average, men intend to spend £325.48 and women £231.63.

Around Britain, people in the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside expect to spend the most in the run up to Christmas and those in South East and East Anglia the least.

Of those planning to do some last-minute Christmas spending only 61% expect to clear this by the end of January. 15% expects it to take between two and three months to clear and 1% anticipate it will take between four and 12 months.

As well as offering attractive features and benefits which could for example see someone who spends the equivalent of £100 a week on Sainsbury’s purchases receiving Nectar points worth £104 at the end of the year for these purchases alone, Sainsbury’s credit cardholders can also manage their accounts online with their convenient 24/7 online payment service.

To find out more about the Sainsbury’s credit card, visit sainsburys.co.uk.