Specialising in the FMCG sector, Market Instinct helps businesses find relevant data that give them actionable insight, allowing them to formulate effective strategies to improve their business operations. With people-centred market research, our clients gain a valuable understanding of their customers and how to satisfy their needs.

As the festive season approaches, we have been proactive with our customer surveying and have collected valuable information you can use to make important marketing decisions for the holiday season. We surveyed men and women between the ages of 17 and 55 to find out what today’s consumers are interested in over the festive period.

Foods Customers Are Drawn To

We asked consumers what foods they would buy over the holidays that they wouldn’t normally buy throughout the year. When it comes to eating over the holidays, 53,3% of participants reported that they planned to buy meat, with 29,2% preparing for a holiday feast, including turkey. Christmas cake, fruit cake and banana cakes will be the desserts of choice, with 20,8% of participants preparing to purchase them.

Must-have Gifts

We asked participants what gifts they would most like to receive from a friend or family member for Christmas. The most popular responses were as follows:

• A new cellphone or iPhone (20,8%)
• Clothing (15%)
• New shoes (14,2%)
• Money (10,8%)
• A gift voucher (8,3%)
• Food or a voucher for groceries (5,8%)
• A new computer or laptop (5,8%)
• New gaming console (5%)
• Jewellery (3,3%).

Popular Festive Tipples And Drinks

Most commonly, participants planned to purchase non-alcoholic drinks that included fizzy drinks and fruit juice at 40% and 37,5% respectively. Alcoholic drinks that consumers prepared to purchase include wine (15,8%), beer (12,5%), champagne or sparkling wine (12,5%), whiskey (7,5%) and brandy (3,3%).

Consumer Financial Situations

As 2022 draws to a close, consumers can truly evaluate their financial standing and compare it to their positions this time last year. A total of 25% of participants reported being worse off and needing to spend less than in 2021, while 44% were in a better financial position and able to spend more. The balance, 31%, felt they were in the same position financially as they were this time last year.

If you’re looking to gain valuable insight into your target audience through effective customer surveying, the team at Market Instinct can help. To find out more about our services and what we can do for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.