Festive fillip

Wednesday, 22 December 2010 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Consumers are gearing up to spend more money during this Christmas and New Year festive season according to a landmark survey done by Daily FT in partnership with a specialist research consultant company taking samples from 22 cities.

The survey by PepperCube covered Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Moneragala, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Jaffna, Ampara, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Mannar.

The majority of the participants were from the Colombo and Gampaha areas, numbering 10% and 11% of the total poll respectively.

When asked if they were likely to spend more this festive season than last year, a majority of the people — (41%), replied they were likely to do so, followed by 31% not likely, 15% undecided, 8% not likely at all and 5% extremely likely.

Interestingly, the poll also included people’s possible plans for New Year’s Eve. It appears as though the majority of those polled did not seem too enthused about the holiday, as 36% of the people said it was just an ordinary day to them, and 32% planning to clean up the house.

The others chose small, domestic functions as their way to celebrate, with 22% opting for private home gatherings, 17% making traditional sweets, 7% going out with family and 6% at a friend’s place.

Out of the individuals polled, the Tamil demographic component appeared to be most optimistic as compared to last year. 64% of Tamils surveyed said they were either likely or extremely likely to spend more this season. The Muslim and Sinhala sectors were a little more cautious in their pecuniary planning, as 43% of each replied that they would be likely or extremely likely to exceed their previous year’s spending.

In terms of age, the younger age groups appeared to be somewhat sharply divided.

The 20-25 age group seemed to be more eager to splurge this season, with 60% likely or extremely likely to top last year’s expenditure, while the 16-20 age group surveyed were 51% to be unlikely or very unlikely to spend more.

The 26-35, 36-45 and 46-55 age groups were all marginally more willing to spend, with roughly 45% of each as “likely” or “extremely likely”, and roughly 35% of each as “unlikely” or “extremely unlikely”.

As for the direction of the consumerism, the easy favourite was new clothes, capturing 65% of people’s top choices for spending, followed by a distant 54% for culinary items/ kitchen ware and 51% for fruits and vegetables.

A relatively small slice of the populace aimed for expensive or luxury goods, as 2% planned to buy a new vehicle (car, jeep etc), 4% wanted to buy a new house and 6% opted for gold jewellery. A meager 13% chose gifts for others as one of their primary expenditures, while 20% chose cakes and liquor.

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