In the run-up to Christmas, high streets around the country start to twinkle as they welcome festive crowds. Traditionally, previous generations of shoppers would hunt for gifts among a town’s Christmas trees and lights. Then, as bags grew heavy, we’d pop into church to hear carols or stop for a mulled wine or a mince pie.
Yet the convenience and choice of shopping online has made buying presents on the internet more popular. In the five years between 2017 and 2022, online spending during the festive season increased by 8 billion pounds, according to data analyst Statista, while in-store spending fluctuated. This is in spite of sales from online gift-buying dropping slightly after the pandemic, with sales last year 5 billion less than they were in 2020, when they hit £35.26 billion.
There is still something about browsing the shelves that appeals however. At the end of 2022, in-store sales, at £52.18 bn, were still far higher than total sales from online shopping.
So it seems that real-life Christmas shopping is a tradition people want to hold onto.
Dominique Foster, a mother of two, loves a festive trawl around the shops. “For me there is nothing like blocking out the entire day for Christmas shopping,” she said. “I head out, list in hand and soon my arms are nearly hanging off from the weight of the bags, so I’m back at the car, dropping off my first run.”
She likes to shop in person for adults’ presents, in particular, “as I want to see them in the flesh, ideally.” She admits to feeling nostalgic for the way she shopped with her mum and friends as a teenager. Before the internet could track down whatever we desired, television adverts and catalogues showed families what they could buy.
“We used to go through the Argos catalogue as kids and cut out whatever we wanted,” recalls Becca Haggerty, a marketing expert who is in her early Forties. “Then we would stick it on a piece of paper and create our Christmas lists. Nowadays, I do some shopping online,” she says, “but if I can get an item from the high street then I will, as it feels more personal. When I’m late-night shopping I like to look out for little surprise Christmas gifts, as it makes me feel festive.”
One benefit of children watching less terrestrial TV these days is that they are subject to less advertising. While this is undoubtedly a good thing, it also makes some parents see the internet as a helpful tool when it comes to writing letters for Father Christmas. “My kids mostly select their presents on Amazon,” said Dominique. “But at least this way we can scroll through the website’s gift ideas lists, watch online adverts and read reviews for the toys they are interested in.”
Beth Hepburn takes her children to her local town centre to shop, but the trips are brief and tend to be for stocking fillers or smaller, incidental presents. “Sometimes we go for a wander along the high street,” she says. “We get sweets from a traditional shop and socks from FatFace. Most of the time though, my boys find gifts for others online. We buy them and the boys give us cash.”
Beth does her best to sneak tradition into their online shopping however. “Once they’ve found what they want on the internet, I make them write their lists out by hand,” she explains. “It’s nostalgic, but it’s so I can hang them up by the fireplace afterwards. Friends and relatives often enjoy reading them when they visit.”
To compete with online retail spending, shops in towns and cities can often now club together to give customers an incentive to keep their high street – sometimes home to small, independent businesses – going. In both Bath and Bristol, for example, people can buy a gift card that can be loaded up with money and used in more than 200 of the city’s shops, restaurants and businesses.
Another, more traditional form of in-person shopping that’s thriving in 2023 is the Christmas market. Alpine-style huts dusted in fake snow grace the streets of towns and cities from Exeter to Lincoln. As convenient as online shopping can be, there is still something about Christmas that makes us want to slow down, enjoy the festive atmosphere and take pleasure in our gift giving.
Dr Sandra Wheatley, a social psychologist, thinks that going real-life Christmas shopping with friends and family is more exciting. People feel pleasure when they discuss what to buy for others and also when they try to keep the presents they’ve bought a secret.
“It’s good fun,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how old or young you are. Knowing that, with your present, you are giving the people you love pleasure is a really wonderful feeling.”
She acknowledges, however, that the busy run-up to Christmas can be stressful. “Shopping is a necessary evil but you can make it pleasurable,” she said. “Yes, you can sit down at your computer on the last Friday before Christmas and get it all done but, if families do it together, there is a value in the process of Christmas shopping that is worth far more than pounds and pence. Hopefully what we pass onto future generations will be how to retain the positives of shopping and giving, while shedding the negatives,” she said. “That is the real Christmas gift.”