Holiday Shopping Research (January 1, 2017)

GREEKS BOUGHT MAINLY FOOD AND CLOTHES OVER CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS-MARLAB POLL

Food and clothes were the main items purchased by Greeks over the Christmas holidays, a poll by the marketing laboratory (MARLAB) of the University of Macedonia revealed on Sunday, with 85 percent of respondents saying they shopped during the holidays.
According to the data, 15 percent of participants said they didn’t buy anything, citing as main reasons a lack of money (43 pct), lack of time (23 pct), lack of need (20 pct) and crowdedness in stores (7 pct).

In terms of money spent, 76 percent of those polled said they spent up to 200 euros, 20 percent said they spent from 201-500 euros and the remaining 4 percent spent more than 501euros ahead of Christmas. For New Year’s Day, 73 percent said they would buy presents but the vast majority (92 percent) said they’d spent less than 200 euros
Asked what category of goods or services they chose to spend money on, the poll concluded that shoppers mainly chose food and clothing items. Specifically, 54 percent of respondents said they spent 15-30 pct of their money on food, while 40 percent spent 30-60 pct of their money on clothes and shoes. Another 13 percent said they used 30 percent of their money on technology products and another 16 percent spent 30 percent on jewelry and accessories. An 11 percent of participants spent 30 percent on toys and 3 percent spent 30 percent on furniture. Only 5 percent spent 30 percent of their money for books.

Another 24 percent of the sample said they travelled over the holidays, with 90 percent visiting regions of Greece and 10 percent going abroad. The average duration of the trip was seven days. For accommodation, 54 percent chose a family house, 14 percent preferred being hosted by friends and 24 percent booked a hotel.

MARLAB’s poll was conducted through social media in the period between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30. It was based on 195 people of whom 27 percent were men and 73 percent were women. Divided by age, 57 percent of respondents said they were 18-24 years old, 26 percent were 25-35 years old, 13 percent were 36-50 years old and the rest 4 percent were older than 51.

In terms of employment, 51 percent of the sample was university students, 11 percent said they were unemployed, 18.4 percent worked in the private sector, 5 percent in the public sector, 10.6 percent were self-employed, 2 percent were business owners and 2 percent pensioners.