The days immediately leading up to Christmas have been the most popular days for grocery retail in Ireland in December over the past five years, according to research.

22, 23 and 24 December form the peak shopping period and typically see the highest sales while the December weekends also see sales surges as people start to make their preparations and stock up for the festive period.

New research from DMG Media estimates that there will be a 3% net increase in spending on Christmas goods this year.

The study divides UK households into three categories: health households, recovering residences, and difficult dwellings.

The overall increase will be driven by a 17% surge in spending on Christmas presents by 'healthy households', which encompass a fifth of adults, 77% of whom are ABC1 and 82% of whom own their own home .

Healthy households are the most affluent households and will have more income to splash out this year.

The majority of households are classified as recovering residence, who will have their first normal Christmas in years due to greater financial security.

Finally, the poorest group, difficult dwellings, are still in crisis and will struggle to celebrate Christmas while trying to make ends meet.

The Retail at Christmas study shows that household financial confidence and wages are rising as the UK has emerged from recession, but costs remain high and society is highly polarised.

Between July 2018 and July 2024, the three-month rolling average gap in outlook across gender, generations, income and regions has risen from 2.69 to 11.81 with 0 indicating 0 polarisation at all.

In London, optimism was measured at 60, compared to 47 for the rest of the UK, and there were also significant gaps between men (55) and women (48), and millennials (60) and boomers (45).

Overall, a net 48% of households are looking forward to Christmas, rising to 68% among healthy households and 56% among recovering residences but falling to 29% among difficult dwellings.

+14% of households said they would make more of an effort this Christmas than in 2023 -- +23% among healthy households, +14% among recovering residences, and +7% among difficult dwellings.

Many consumers remain in a recessionary mindset, showing little change from cost-saving behaviours taken up during the cost-of-living crisis such as cutting back on non-essential spend, loyalty card usage, shopping around for better deals and switching to own-brand products.

All cohorts will be affected by this trend, but those who are struggling financially will be more impacted while the middle group are striving for a normal Christmas, and the top group are no longer cutting back.

In terms of food, consumers intend to spend 4% more this Christmas for an average of £158 but spending on drink is expected to decline 3% to an average of £78.

Across the three groups, food spending will increase among healthy households (+19% to £158) and recovering residences (+5% to £120) while declining 6% to £118m among difficult dwellings.

Only healthy households will increase their drink spend (+2% to £105), while recovering residences' spend will be unchanged at £75, and difficult dwellings will spend 9% less (£68).

A third (33%) of households said they would be 'trading up' on the quality of food/drink options this year while 28% said they would be 'trading up' in their choice of retailers. However, some 38% said they would be more reliant on loyalty schemes.

Regarding gifts, consumers will spend 3% more on gifts for others and 2% more on gifts for themselves this Christmas.

The average outlay on presents for others will be £325, rising to £484 among healthy households, a 17% annual increase. Recovering residents will spend £311 (+6%), and difficult dwellings will spend £253 (-10%).

Healthy households will spend an average of £247 on gifts for themselves (+12%) compared to the wider average of £151 (+2%), £128 (+7%) among recovering residences, and £103 for difficult dwellings (-11%).

And while the richest households will increase their spending on eating out and other out-of-home leisure activities, recovering residences (-1%) and difficult dwellings (-7%) will reduce their leisure spend.

The study also found that 63% of Brits agree ‘you can always get sales prices if you shop around’ and that 41% bought gifts on Black Friday, while one in three will make presents this year because its more thoughtful (43%) and to reduce costs (20%).

(Pic: Getty Images)