Late night shopping disappointing

Any UK retailers pinning their Christmas trading hopes on a late shopping surge could be disappointed, according to the latest figures from KPMG. Data from the third and final study of Christmas shopping trends, undertaken by YouGov on behalf of KPMG, shows that many people are still planning to complete their Christmas shopping as late as possible. However, the numbers also suggest that much of that late shopping surge may not actually be worth as much in real terms as retailers would have hoped.

The survey, undertaken on December 14 and 15, revealed that 17 per cent of shoppers now expect to complete their festive purchasing on Christmas Eve, up from 13 per cent in the previous survey two weeks ago. Forty-four percent of people were planning to leave it until the last full week before the holiday. Ten per cent of shoppers have still done no Christmas shopping whatsoever although the figure is markedly higher amongst men (16 per cent) than women (5 per cent).