As we head toward Christmas, which cities in the UK are the most generous?

With Christmas rapidly approaching, the UK's leading Out of Home media and infrastructure company Clear Channel UK has released a new study focusing on ‘Gifting in the UK’.

 Based on a study of 1,000 respondents, it offers fascinating insights into the most generous cities in the UK, how much people spend on Christmas gifts, the most purchased gifts and the ways people shop for them, plus the main sources for gift inspiration and whose gift people put the most effort into.

Clear Channel wanted to find out where in the UK people are the most generous when it comes to giving gifts. The research revealed the most generous people live in Liverpool, with 60% of respondents claiming they enjoy giving gifts. Southampton is the second most generous city in the UK with 59%, closely followed by Nottingham, where 58% of people enjoy treating their nearest and dearest.

Londoners found themselves among the least generous, taking the 10th spot on the list with only 50% of people enjoying giving gifts. However, Manchester was the least generous city overall with only 41% of respondents embracing the gifting tradition.

The full list of the most generous cities in the UK can be found below:

1.Liverpool – 60%

2.Southampton – 59%

3.Nottingham – 58%

4.Leeds – 55%

5.Bristol – 55%

6.City of Edinburgh – 53%

7.Brighton and Hove – 51%

8.Leicester – 51%

9.Newcastle upon Tyne – 50%

10.Greater London - 50%

11.Glasgow – 48%

12.Birmingham - 48%

13.Sheffield – 46%

14.Cardiff – 45%

15.Greater Manchester - 41%

Other key findings from the survey:

- Only 25% of people plan to do their Christmas shopping online, while 34% plan to shop on the high street. The majority of people (41%) prefer to use a mixture of online and in-store shopping.

- The most purchased gifts are clothing (35%), toiletries & cosmetics (26%) and toys (27%).

- The most purchased gifts by women are clothing (43%), toiletries & cosmetics (35%) and toys (34%) while the most purchased gifts by men are clothing (28%), food & drink (21%) and toys (20%).

- Brits spend the most time and effort on their partners’ gifts.

- Brits plan to spend the same amount of money on Christmas gifts this year as last year.

- The majority of Brits plan to spend on average £101-£200 (23%) and £201-£400 (22%) on Christmas gifts.

Ben Hope, who is the Marketing Director at Clear Channel UK, said: “Christmas is the perfect opportunity for businesses to establish a connection between brand and audience. As they finalise their festive advertising strategies and start to consider their 2024 campaigns, we wanted to dive deep into consumer behaviour data and pull out some revelatory insights on shopping approaches in the UK. By creating the ‘Gifting in the UK’ report, we wanted to help businesses target their efforts more effectively and efficiently as they start their Christmas season marketing pushes.’’

FACTFILE: Clear Channel UK is one of the UK’s largest Out of Home media and infrastructure companies, operating over 33,000 advertising sites nationwide and employing 600+ people in 14 locations.

Clear Channel’s mission is to Create the Future of Media, transforming their estate to the benefit of all stakeholders through data-driven innovations and infrastructure. Their purpose is to provide both A Platform for Brands and A Platform for Good, delivering on advertisers’ media objectives whilst having a positive impact on the world around them.

We'd like to thank Clear Channel UK for sharing their data with us. 

https://www.clearchannel.co.uk/latest/gifting-in-the-uk-report