Strangled by inflation, many French people are forced to revise their Christmas budget downwards.
Thus, 8 out of 10 French people say that they “definitely or probably” will have to reduce their spending for the holidays, 18% even say that they will not offer gifts this year compared to 10% in 2021. For the rest, gifts will be less numerous ( 56%, +5 points compared to 2021) and cheaper for 64% of those surveyed, (+8 points compared to 2021) according to several recent surveys.
However, consumers find ways to compensate. For example, appealing to the family for an economic boost or using their gift vouchers that their employer and CSEs give them.
A contribution far from trivial
This contribution is far from trivial. According to an A3C* survey conducted by Harris Interactive, in 2021, 65% of French people received a gift from their company or works council. In more than one in two cases it was gift or cultural vouchers.
In concrete terms, nearly 8 million employees and public officials benefit each year from gift certificates, paid for by more than 145,000 companies, CSEs, and communities. And 76% of these gift vouchers are given to the French for the Christmas holidays.
The average amount received is 99 euros (119 euros for general gift vouchers). Enough to benefit from a welcome oxygen ball. In 31% of cases, this amount was revised upwards in 2021.
But faced with galloping inflation, the French want a new revaluation. 52% advocate an amount between 100 and 200 euros for an average of 187 euros.
In any case, these checks allow 77% of those surveyed to make unplanned purchases and/or maintain a lower Christmas gift budget at the start. For 63%, these controls even allow this budget to be revised upwards.
99 euros on average
And nearly one in two recipients of gift or cultural vouchers made purchases they never would have made without gift or cultural vouchers. Therefore, they also have a trigger effect.
It should be noted that these purchases are made mainly in physical stores (approximately 60%) because in most cases these checks are delivered on paper or card.
According to the study, gift vouchers are used to purchase clothing/accessories (37%), toys (36%), home decoration and electrical appliances (34%) or for cultural products (33%). Culture titles are spent on books (41%), ticket sales (39%) or even video games (34%).
Multiplier effect
Curiously, although they constitute an important lever to help consumption, these controls also have a multiplier effect since in most cases they encourage additional spending.
Thus, 61% of general gift voucher holders state that they spend more than the value of the voucher when they are used. The average additional amount is 83 euros according to the survey.
Enough to boost consumption in general: the gift vouchers granted to employees made it possible, in 2021, to inject more than 2,000 million euros into the French economy, the study estimates.
*: Quantitative survey conducted online by the Harris Interactive Institute on Access Panel. Representative samples of French employees aged 18-64 using the quota method with a main sample consisting of 1698 respondents representative of French employees.
Source: BFM TV
