Member Article

North East ‘most generous at Christmas’

The North East has been named as one of the most generous areas of the country, with workers in the region set to splash out the highest proportion of their wage on presents this Christmas.

Households in Sunderland topped the list, and will spend 149% of their available discretionary income on gifts for friends and family. Teesside, Durham, Newcastle and Darlington also made the top 20.

North East Chamber of Commerce chief executive James Ramsbotham, commented: “Considering the generosity of spirit of North East people and the region’s excellent retail offer, it is no surprise to see our towns and cities well represented in this survey.”

By contrast, the Affording Christmas 2011: the Scrooge Report showed that Christmas ‘Scrooges’, who spent the lowest proportion of their income on gifts predominantly live in London and the Home Counties.

Several areas of affluent Surrey were found to be in the bottom 10, including Guildford and St Albans, who spend 31% and 29% respectively.

Murray Dudgeon, Acxiom Europe’s head of client services was in charge of conducting the survey.
He said: “Whilst we are living in difficult economic times, our analysis shows there are clearly parts of the country where people are prepared to spend over and above what their discretionary households budgets should allow to give their loved ones the Christmas they desire.

“We have also pinpointed the areas where people won’t necessarily spend what they could afford – leaving retailers the opportunity to target these consumers in a bid to get them to part with more of their money.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .