Winter discounts are here. While the official start date is January 7, many businesses are already offering discounts so consumers can take advantage of them while making their final Christmas shopping and gifts to the Three Kings. Although prices continue to rise rapidly this year average budget What each consumer plans to spend during this discount period Recovered to 2022 levels. So much so that finance comparator Banqmi’s research on purchasing trends in the annual Winter Sale shows that January 2024 Each buyer will spend an average of 96.45 euros2.19% more than in 2023 (€94.38) and almost the same as in 2022 (96.33%).
However, if we analyze this average budget according to consumers’ autonomous residence, we see large differences in the Banqmi survey. Thus, there is eight regions with average prices exceeding 100 euros. In first place is La Rioja (109.33 euros), which this year surpassed the Basque Country (107.44 euros) in the ranking of the largest budgets. They are followed by the Community of Madrid (103.44 euros), Asturias (103.33 euros), the Valencian Community (101.33 euros), Cantabria (100.99 euros), Navarra (100.56 euros) and Aragon (100.03 euros). following.
On the contrary, is GaliciaThe one with the lowest budget per consumerwith an average of 82.90 euros; These are followed by Extremadura (85.45 euros), Canary Islands (85.55 euros) and Melilla (87.33 euros). Banqmi financial expert Antonio Gallardo says these differences “are due to the presence of traditional communities where the value of discounts is higher.”
Gallardo likewise points to the example of Castilla y León, which, although not having one of the highest average budgets (€96.44), showed the largest increase in one year, up to €11.10. And the places where spending is lowest are exactly some regions that are among the regions with the highest average budgets: inside Basque Country This data drops 2.79 euros compared to last year (110.23 euros on average); In Navarra it also fell from 102.90 euros in 2022 to 2.34 euros; and 2.01 euros in the Valencian Community, where the decline was similar to previous ones.
Credit card usage is increasing rapidly
Another of the most striking results of the survey conducted by the financial comparator is that in the last three years, financing of purchases made by credit card during this discount season exceeded payments made with profits from the month and growth continues rapidly: increased by nine percentage points since 2019; This is about the same as reducing the option to pay for purchases with monthly income. This year, 2024, up to 39.14% of Banqmi’s survey respondents guarantee that if they shop in the Winter Sale, they will use a credit card to finance their purchases, meaning they will use a credit card. pay them in installments.
Antonio Gallardo assures that there are risks to this: “The problem or concern does not arise from the use of the card, but from the use of the card. how do they use itEspecially if they accumulate debt because they postpone payments in very small installments, which triggers an average annual interest payment of 18% on a product, according to the latest data from the Bank of Spain.
To avoid getting into too much debt with credit card use, Banqmi comparator’s financial expert recommends “using formulas that enable you to have ownership.” More control over paymentsLike dividing individual purchases into specific months. However, if we choose to pay fixed installments or percentages of the amount spent, it is best that these are as high as possible so that the debt is paid off as quickly as possible. Besides, we always have a chance ‘Amortize’ some of this debt “If we receive unexpected money.”
Withdraw savings, last option
In the remaining options there are also such serious changes, although they are very striking and are connected with current economic events, the decrease in payments for savings purchases. This option is currently the least used option and 16% of votes The proportion of respondents to Banqmi’s survey has also been decreasing since 2022.
Other options that also come down are: Pay for purchases with money earned from gifts Christmas (18.31% in 2024 compared to 18.43% in 2023) or by the gain of the month (27.47% last year to 26.55% this year). Of course, although we have seen these declines for several years, they are more moderate.