Russians plan to spend an average RUR 17K on the New Year’s holidays, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte.
The study says that last year, consumers were ready to increase holiday spending to RUR 17.6K ($266), which was even more than before the crisis. But it fact, their spending was a bit more modest: about RUR 16K ($240). People are concerned about the current economic situation. According to Deloitte, this year many more Russians believe that the country’s economy is in recession. Last year, 51% of respondents thought so (61% this year). The number of Russians who are expecting their buying power to decrease in the upcoming year has significantly grown: from 22% in 2017 to 30% in 2018.
Deloitte partner Vladimir Biryukov believes that Russians have become much more practical and, given a low economic growth, try not to spend too much on the New Year’s holidays: their holiday spending has remained at about RUR 16-17K ($240-260) for the past six years.
The structure of the New Year’s budget of an average Russian did not change much. Most spending goes to food and drinks (47%), almost the same amount to presents (42%) and the rest to entertainments.
According to Deloitte, Russians consider money, travel, smartphones and perfume the best New Year’s presents, but instead they receive chocolate and cosmetics. However, 80% of women and 74% of men are going to buy themselves what they want: smarthphones, cosmetics and perfume.
By the end of the year, the consumer confidence index lowered in Russia from 45 points in May 2018 to 40 points in September, according to the VCIOM (Russian Public Opinion Research Center).