Largest Ferratum Christmas Barometer™ to date gathers spending habits of 23,000 consumers globally

HELSINKI, Dec. 3, 2018 /CNW/ - Ferratum Oyj ("Ferratum") has conducted the ninth consecutive international barometer. The Christmas Barometer™ analysed consumers plans for Christmas and winter holidays. The survey was conducted in 19 countries with more than 23,000 participating, making it the largest Ferratum survey to date.

This year's results show that 21% of the respondents planned to spend more than last Christmas, while 43% said they plan to spend as much as the previous year.The survey reveals that the big spenders on Christmas, spendings calculated of household income, are Mexico (48%), Brazil (38%), Romania (29%), and Bulgaria (25%). While the countries that would be allocating the least of their monthly income on Christmas are Denmark (13%), Finland (11%), Germany (10%), and Netherlands (10%).

Ferratum Canada joins in on Largest Ferratum Christmas Barometer™ to date, where we look at Christmas spending for 2018.

Canadians continue to enjoy Christmas and everything surrounding the holiday. A healthy 22% of Canadians monthly income is dedicated to holiday expenses including gifts and winter activities.

Canadian spending is in line with our friends in the UK, and higher than other similar markets such as Australia.

Christmas is all about family

Spending time with family and loved ones is what 69% of the respondents said to be most important to them. According to the survey, 18% appreciate the Christmas celebration and spirit more than receiving gifts or doing winter sports. Of those that go shopping for gifts,  approx.  22%  stated that they were planning on shopping online for products and services this Christmas, with the UK and Germany being the most active online shoppers. People in Estonia (16%), Croatia (15%) and Latvia (14%) prefer traditional retail stores for their Christmas purchases and services.

Brazilians and Romanians are willing to spend most money in relative terms on traveling during Christmas, up to  27% of their monthly income, while respondents from Poland, Latvia and Netherlands will only allocate 10-13% on travels. When travelling, 71% of Australian respondents, 56% of Canadians and 39% of Danish are willing to spend more than EUR 100 per night on a hotel room, while most Germans (70%), followed by Romanians (33%) and Estonians (28%) said  to prefer a lower priced AirBnB for their accomodation.

According to the Ferratum Christmas Barometer™, 18% of respondents say their New Year's Resolution is to spend more time with loved ones. Another 14% said they wanted to travel more and 13% would like to renovate their house. Sport and a healthy lifestyle is also high on the list of resolutions, 12% of participants say they would like to exercise more.

It's no surprise that Canadians enjoy spending the holidays with friends and loved ones. This time of the year is all about connecting with family around a dinner table or Christmas tree.

We're happy to see Canada ranks #2 in terms of willingness to spend a bit more on that perfect hotel – with 56% of the respondents stating they'd spend over $150 CAD per night.

Consumers are going cashless and increasing usage of mobile banking

Nearly 70% of respondents in  Norway and Sweden said to prefer using card over cash. However, not only Scandinavians are moving towards the cashless lifestyle – more than half of participants from 12 of the 19 surveyed countries stated to prefer cards over cash during Christmas holidays.

Over 70% of all survey participants and the majority in 18 countries out of 19 said they would use mobile banking for their banking needs during Christmas (10% more than in the Ferratum Summer Barometer™ 2018), and almost 90% of respondents in Australia, Sweden, Canada and Netherlands said they would use mobile banking during this period. The only country with less than 50% of participants planning on using mobile banking was Bulgaria. 

According to the survey, 52% of the respondents will cover the costs of Christmas holidays with savings, while 23% said they would partially cover the expenses with Ferratum loans and 13% planned to use credit cards. The overall most popular gift in 2018 will be clothing, with 16% of respondents stating that shopping for clothes as present would be at the top of their Christmas list. Toys and games (10%), sweets (9%), and family and personal holidays activities (8%) were other popular choices.

Notes to editors

• The survey was conducted by Ferratum Group, which surveyed its active customers in 19 countries globally via web survey with a standardised questionnaire. Incomes were stated in local currency, and relative Christmas consuming is calculated by the ratio of a family's monthly disposable income in each country. Disposable income was adjusted by each country, individual purchasing power parity based on 2014 figures by The World Bank.
• Over 23,000 households participated in the survey. The age of respondents ranged from 18 years to 61 years. 57% of participants were women and 43% men. The average available income of participating households ranged between €866 – €3,861. The average household size among the respondents was 2.9 persons.
• In addition to demographic factors, respondents were asked about their disposable monthly net income, how much they spend on Christmas, what activities they spend their money on, and if they are planning on using AirBnB services or online banking while travelling abroad.
• The survey used each country's respective currency. Responses were evened out to reflect the respective purchasing power of each country. All survey responses were anonymous.

About Ferratum Group:

Ferratum Group is an international provider of mobile banking and digital consumer and small business loans, distributed and managed by mobile devices. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Ferratum has expanded rapidly to operate in 25 countries across Europe, Africa, South and North America and the Asia-Pacific region.

As a pioneer in digital and mobile financial services technology, Ferratum is at the forefront of the digital banking revolution. Ferratum's mobile bank, launched in 2016, is an innovative mobile banking platform offering a range of banking services, including real time digital payments and transfers, within a single app. It is currently available in five European markets. Ferratum has approximately 1.9 million active and former customers who have an account or have been granted one or more loans in the past (as at 30 September 2018), of which over 799,000 customers have an open Mobile Bank account or an active loan balance in the last 12 months.

Ferratum Group is listed on the Prime Standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange under symbol 'FRU.' For more information, visit www.ferratumgroup.com.

SOURCE Ferratum Canada Inc.

Ferratum Group, Emmi Kyykkä, Deputy Head of Investor Relations, T: [phone], E: [email protected]