The January sales, also popularly known as the winter sales, are already here. Despite the fact that some shops officially kicked off their discounts this Saturday, January 7, many others, such as El Corte Inglés, have already begun to offer their items at discounted prices. But what spending forecast is there for this year in sales? According to a survey carried out by the financial comparator Banqmi, the average budget that each citizen plans to spend this year is 94.38 euros, 2% less than last year (96.33 euros).
The still high rise has a lot to do with this drop in the spending forecast. Antonio Gallardo, financial expert at Banqmi, assures that “the rise in prices marks a lower budget than in 2022, although we are also the ones who are looking to find greater discounts in sales this year.” Of course, this expert also qualifies that, despite the drop in the budget, “the prospects are not so bad and this Christmas campaign is being more positive than expected.”
The Basques, the most spendthrift in sales
If we look at the budget that citizens plan to spend according to their autonomous community of residence, we see that there are seven regions that exceed 100 euros on average per consumer: the Basque Country (110.23 euros per person average budget), La Rioja (106.76 euros), the Valencian Community (103.34 euros), Navarra (102.90 euros), Cantabria (101.31 euros), the Community of Madrid (100.20) and Asturias (100.10 euros ). However, at the opposite extreme are Galicia (81.01 euros), the Canary Islands (82.34 euros) and Castilla y León (85.34 euros), which barely exceed the average budget of 80 euros per person.
Antonio Gallardo explains that these differences between autonomies may be due to “the availability of new establishments with low prices, the average age of consumers or a greater tradition of buying on sales.” And it is that, if we compare these average budgets by communities with those of 2022, the people of La Rioja are the ones who increase their spending forecast the most, with up to 5.42 euros more in their budget; followed by the Valencians (3.89 euros more on average).
However, to the question of “will you spend more or less than last year”? The preferred response is to spend the same, to increase two percentage points compared to last year. Of course, Banqmi’s financial expert warns that “this year, if we want to spend the same, we have to be aware that we will buy fewer things because prices have gone up.” The ‘I will spend more’ option falls 1.10 points (from 13.62% of the average votes to 12.52%) and the ‘I will spend less’ option also falls 1.70 points, from the 45.51% who chose it in 2022. to be the preferred option of 43.81%. The ‘I will spend more’ option falls 1.10 points (from 13.62% of the average votes to 12.52%) and the ‘I will spend less’ option also falls 1.70 points, from the 45.51% who chose it in 2022. to be the preferred option of 43.81%.
Less paying with savings, more credit cards
Of those surveyed by Banqmi, 37.10% declare this year that they will pay for the purchases of these winter sales by financing them with a credit card. This percentage rises more than 2.5 points compared to 2022 (34.55%) and seven points since it bottomed out in 2021, when it was the preferred option for 30.11% of consumers.
After financing with a credit card, the second option for Spaniards is to pay for sales purchases with the earnings of the month. Of course, fewer and fewer consumers opt for this option, which has plummeted from the 36.01% who paid for their purchases with their salary in 2019 to the current 27.47%.
“The data from the Banqmi survey seem to reinforce a trend that is clear in all communities: there are many who struggle to make ends meet and use the card to continue shopping. In fact, we are already close to 20% year-on-year growth in what is owed to credit, including cards”, concludes Gallardo. In addition, this financial expert warns: “An expense that is largely financed can cause many problems in the future if it is not properly controlled.”
