Christmas: it’s a festive fact!

What do British consumers do to make their Christmas season special?

Mintel has trawled through a vast amount of its market research and information to come up with this list of festive facts and frivolous figures which we share with you here:

The Christmas dinner

For many, Christmas is synonymous with time spent in the kitchen, rediscovering the joy of home cooking.

· One in five (20%) Brits admit that they only bake for a special occasion such as Christmas.

· It’s not Christmas without turkey. The nation spent an estimated £307m this year on turkey.

· Christmas is a key time in the calendar for nuts and dried fruit. Overall, the market for nuts, seeds and dried fruit was worth £579m in 2010.

· Over seven in 10 (73%) UK consumers are trying their hand at home baking, with standard cakes having the greatest appeal (42%).

· Brits spent £163m on Christmas chocolate in 2010, less than Easter (£264m) but more than Mother’s Day (£22m).

· More than six in 10 (61%) British consumers will share chocolates with friends and family when they visit them. It seems that, with more time spent entertaining in the home, a box of chocolates is the perfect accompaniment to a night in.

· In 2010 up to 16 different types of panettone were launched in the UK. The chocolate version is the most popular, accounting for three in 10 (31%) of new panettone launches that year.

Time for a toast!



It’s not Christmas without a toast.

· Three in five British consumers who buy alcohol over the Christmas period buy it as a gift.

· Wine is the favourite in-home drink: white wine is the best choice for 44% of Brits, followed by red wine for 40%.

· Liqueurs are synonymous with Christmas: 71% of Brits will have one during the festive season.

· In 2010, Brits spent £226m on Baileys and other cream-based liqueurs.

· Christmas is also an excuse to try something different. Some two in five (39%) consumers find themselves having drinks outside of their normal repertoire over the Christmas period.

· Over Christmas, almost a quarter (23%) of Brits buy more expensive alcohol types or brands than usual.

· Some 61% make sure to stock up on alcohol for when people come around.

· Three in five UK consumers (61%) claim that they buy alcohol as a gift over Christmas.

Christmas shopper attitudes

Despite a difficult economic year, Mintel’s latest data suggests that consumers still want to celebrate and splash money on gifts, they just seem to be more prudent in the way they spend it.

· This year, 35% of Brits declare to have a budget for Christmas shopping and that they will stick to it. This compares to 26% of consumers doing so last year.

· Only 4% revealed that they had to go into debt (such as overdrafts) to pay for this Christmas, as opposed to 7% last year.