There are positive signs from the representative survey on the upcoming Christmas shopping season that was undertaken in September for SES and for the Austrian population by the Linz-based market Institut: planned expenditure on gifts is up markedly in comparison to last year. More people than last year state that they will mainly be buying their Christmas presents from brick-and-mortar stores – in other words in shopping malls and on high streets. The proportion of people mainly buying their presents online is down compared to last year, which means that online retail is losing some of its significance. The share of people who are planning to visit a shopping center at least once a week in the runup to Christmas has increased by a substantial eight percentage points compared to last year, from 13 to 21 percent. Gift vouchers come out in first place in the gift rankings, well ahead of gifts of money, books and toys. The study figures show that the 16- to 29-year-old age group in particular celebrate Christmas in physical stores, start their shopping particularly early and find the festive atmosphere especially important.

Austria finds the festive mood in physical stores
Above all it is decorations and lights that best serve to create the festive mood, with 83 percent of women and 77 percent of men finding them especially important in this context. They are followed by Christmas music, Christmas trees, festive scents, or events such as Christmas markets.

Christoph Andexlinger, CEO SES Spar European Shopping Centers:
“During a time of year when emotional experiences are particularly in demand, people state that doing their Christmas shopping in physical spaces – and above all in shopping malls – meets their wishes perfectly. This study impressively confirms what we also experience as the mood in our shopping malls. People are looking forward to Christmas, are spending more money again and simply enjoy spending time with us.”

Noticeably higher budget for Christmas this year
In 2023, 63 percent of respondents still stated that they wanted to spend EUR 500 or less on Christmas presents. This year, this group is down by one fifth to 50 percent of people. In contrast, the proportion of people who will be spending between EUR 500 and EUR 1,000 has gone up by more than one fifth, from 18 to 22 percent. In addition, the share of people who will be spending over EUR 1,000 has doubled, from 6 percent in 2023 to 13 percent in the current market study.

Young people really celebrate Christmas – and prefer physical stores
The market study provides particularly striking figures on the purchasing behavior of the younger generation of 16- to 29-year-olds: 4 in 5 respondents in this age band are planning to visit a shopping center at least once before Christmas. 57 percent of the younger respondents said they mainly want to do their shopping in physical stores – a clear preference compared to online shopping. 71 percent of young people plan to do their Christmas shopping before or during the first weekend of Advent – and in fact no other age group will be starting their present shopping earlier than the young respondents. Three-quarters of the 16- to 29-year-olds find the pre-Christmas shopping experience important – the highest figure across all age groups. For young people, decorations and lights contribute above all to the festive mood, followed by the Christmas tree and Christmas music.

Early start to Christmas shopping
This year the first Sunday in Advent falls on December 1: in principle the Christmas period starts around this date for three quarters of the respondents. More than half the respondents start their Christmas shopping then at the latest, while 40 percent start even before the first Advent weekend. Young customers in particular tend to start shopping earlier: two thirds of the 16- to 29-year-olds have completed their Christmas purchases after the first Advent weekend, a figure which is 56 percent on average across all age groups.

Vouchers are the most popular gift
Vouchers are always a favorite gift: at 30 percent they are the most frequently selected category of Christmas presents. Lower in the rankings are gifts of money (22 percent), books and toys (19 percent each) and perfumes/cosmetics (15 percent).

Differences in the gift hitlist emerge between age groups: among the 16- to 29-year-olds, vouchers (34 percent) are followed by perfumes/cosmetics, clothing/shoes, jewelry and confectionery/foods in the lower places. An interesting detail: only six percent of young people state that they do not give any presents – this figure is higher in all the other age groups (on average 12 percent). Among the 30- to 49-year-olds, toys are almost on a par with vouchers.

Regional differences
Respondents in the west start their Christmas shopping earlier: in Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg 61 percent have already done their shopping before or during the first weekend in Advent, while in Styria and Carinthia the figure is 52 percent.

There are also differences in the frequency of visiting shopping centers: almost 70 percent of shoppers in Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg visit a shopping center at least once a month in the pre-Christmas period; in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland it is more than half the shoppers. The festive shopping experience is also more important to the people in the west (Salzburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg) than in the other Austrian provinces (52 percent compared to 40 to 44 percent).

Festive clothing on Christmas Eve
For more than half the respondents, dressing in a special way is important on Christmas Eve: 61 percent of the women and 45 percent of the men dress more elegantly at Christmas than they do in their daily life, or wear a Christmas jumper or clothes with a Christmas motif. Christmas jumpers are especially popular with young people, with 26 percent wearing one, and in total 60 percent of this age group dress especially for Christmas. There are also regional differences in the dress code: people in Vienna dress particularly festively (46 percent), while people in Lower Austria and Burgenland tend to be less keen on dressing specially, with only 31 percent intending to dress festively on Christmas Eve.

The study
The online survey by the Austrian market Institut on behalf of SES Spar European Shopping Centers took place on September 16 and 17. 1,000 people aged over 16 were questioned about their shopping behavior and their planned Christmas expenditure.