NEARLY 12 MILLION UK ADULTS TO RECEIVE A STOCKING THIS CHRISTMAS, TOTALLING £731 MILLION IN GIFTS¹

September 14, 2024United Kingdom

  • Millions of UK adults are set to receive Christmas stockings, advent calendars and festive PJs, seasonal traditions typically reserved for children

  • Clearpay reports rise in sales of luxury advent calendars for adults and grown-up Christmas Eve Boxes²

  • 16th September marks 100 days to Christmas, and nearly a fifth (18%) of Brits are already shopping for the festive season

DISTRIBUTED-WORK-MODEL/LONDON, September 16, 2024 – It’s not just the children who will be getting a Christmas stocking this year. Santa Claus will fill close to 12 million extra stockings this Christmas Eve as nearly a quarter (23%) of UK adults will be gifting another grown-up a festive stocking come 25th December.

New research from Clearpay, a leader in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), found UK adults are spending an average of £62 per stocking for grown ups, nearly a fifth (17%) more than what is being spent on the average children’s stocking (£53).

Men spend more on Christmas stockings than women (£71 vs £53) with the majority of adults giving one to their romantic partner (52%). The most popular stocking fillers include sweet treats (60%), socks (40%), perfume/aftershave (34%), accessories (33%), and make-up and beauty products (33%). 

A separate analysis of Clearpay sales data shows that last year there was a boom  in grown-ups receiving festive items traditionally aimed at children. Figures comparing the run up to Christmas 2022 with 2023 revealed a 240% rise in advent calendars for women, a 31% increase in gin advent calendars and a 463% uplift in Christmas Eve Boxes for adults.

The Clearpay consumer study echoes this data as 54% of seasonal shoppers have in the past bought an adult an advent calendar, a third (33%) have gifted christmas pyjamas and 17% have even put together a Christmas Eve box for a grown-up.

Santa’s sleigh is starting to take shape
Christmas shopping has already begun for nearly one in five (18%) Brits. More women (20%) than men (15%) are getting into the festive spirit having already bought seasonal items. Clearpay year-on-year sales data found there had been a 233% increase in sales of Christmas decorations in August and a 413% surge of personalised Christmas stockings.³

Spend responsibly this Christmas 

With 100 days to go until the big day, it’s important to get ahead and plan Christmas spending to avoid a New Year financial hangover. In 2023, 97% of Clearpay customers who shopped during the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday (Nov 21-27) paid off their purchase early or on time. This means that by mid-January 2024, all purchases had been paid off

Clearpay’s top three tips to encourage responsible spending with BNPL this festive season:
1. Spend what you can afford – know what your budget is and stick to it. Pause for 24 hours on any purchases you’re not sure about  

  1. Reschedule instalment repayments if needed – with Clearpay this can be done on the app or by contacting customer service.  
  2. Use email and text payment reminders to prompt you to make sure you have money in your account so that you make your repayments on time.

Rich Bayer, UK Country Manager at Clearpay, commented: “Brits are already getting into the festive spirit by starting to stock up on gifts ahead of Christmas. Some savvy shoppers are already ahead of the game and are picking up sought-after items such as advent calendars. 

“As there are still a few months before Santa comes down the chimney, now is the time to work out how much you want to spend this Christmas. Our research found that  shoppers who plan to use Buy Now, Pay Later this Christmas are doing so to spread costs easily and to help them budget”.⁴

About the research

  1. Clearpay commissioned OnePoll to conduct a survey of 2000 UK adults who celebrate Christmas. The research was carried out between 29th August  2024 – 3rd September 2024.  OnePoll is a MRS Company Partner. There are 53,646,829 UK adults and 88% of Britons celebrate Christmas (YouGov, 2023). 88% of  53,646,829 = 472,092,209. 25% of people bought a Christmas stocking for an adult last year. 25% of 472,092,209 = 11,802,302. UK adults spent £62 on stocking fillers for adults last Christmas.  £62 x 11,802,302  = £731.742,724
  2. Based on Clearpay search and sales data comparing October – December 2022 vs October – December 2023
  3. Based on Clearpay search and sales data comparing August 2023 vs August 2024
  4. Of the survey respondents who are planning to use Buy Now, Pay Later services this Christmas, 46% are doing so to easily spread payments and 44% are doing so to help manage their Christmas budgets.

About Clearpay (Afterpay Limited) 
Clearpay is transforming the way we pay by allowing anyone to buy products immediately and pay over time – enabling simple, transparent, and responsible spending. We are on a mission to power an economy in which everyone wins. 

Clearpay is known as Afterpay outside the UK and is available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. It is offered by thousands of the world’s favourite retailers and used by millions of active global customers. Clearpay is a wholly owned subsidiary of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ).

Five facts about Clearpay: 

  • The service is completely free for customers who pay on time
  • If a customer misses a payment, their account is paused so that they cannot accrue more debt or fall into revolving debt
  • Capped late fees apply for late payment instalments
  • Globally, 90% of Clearpay transactions are made with a debit card 
  • Globally, over the 12 months ended December 2023, 95% of instalments were paid on time and 98% of purchases incurred no late fees

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