Credit Crunch Christmas

The credit crunch did have an impact on women’s Christmas plans and purchasing last year. Despite this however, women are keen to ensure that their families have the best Christmas possible!

These findings are taken from IPC’s Origin Panel Credit Crunch Christmas research which looks at the effect of the recession on women’s Christmas habits and buying behaviour.

Following on from 2007’s Christmas Belles research, women continue to be key decision makers at Christmas and are responsible for everything! 65% say they are solely responsible for planning Christmas, and 25% say they are jointly responsible.

6 in 10 women said the recession had an impact on their Christmas plans, with 16% saying it had a huge impact. As a result, they became a bit more savvy with their money – shopping for Christmas food and gifts earlier, buying food at different supermarkets (20%) and 14% even avoided hosting Christmas dinner!

The internet continues to be used for inspiration, research and purchase, with more women shopping online (84%) compared to the previous year.

Media and advertising plays an important role in inspiring women and in helping them find the best solutions and deals to make Christmas great but not financially crippling.

Credit Crunch Christmas looked at the following areas:

I. Women’s responsibilities at Christmas
II. The impact of the credit crunch on women’s responsibilities and purchasing
III. The cost of Christmas
IV. The role of online

Credit Crunch Christmas is the second phase of IPC Insight’s Christmas research. The first wave (Christmas Belles), looked at how women feel about Christmas, what is important to them at this time of year and their responsibilities/purchase spheres.

The IPC Origin Panel is a major rolling programme of research accessing a nationally representative sample of 7,500 UK women.


For more information on Credit Crunch Christmas (or the previous wave) please contact:

Louise Osilaja, Insight Manager 0203 148 3635 louise_Osilaja@ipcmedia.com

Amanda Wigginton, Director of Insight 0203 148 3636 amanda_wigginton@ipcmedia.com