While spending time with family has always been important to Kiwis, more have been hoping to spend time with friends or at the beach this year.
According to new insights from a survey of over 1,700 PAK’nSAVE, New World, and Four Square customers, only 39 percent of respondents planned to spend time with family this year, a significant drop from 54 percent in 2023. The remaining 61 percent intended to unwind, catch up with friends or enjoy the outdoors.
Foodstuffs New Zealand Head of Customer Insights and Intelligence Chris Day said 2024 has been a taxing year for many, and there has been a more significant focus on ensuring the upcoming holiday includes some downtime.
“Perhaps the post-COVID glow where we were all craving family connection has lost some shine, and having a decent break is becoming more of a priority. Kiwis are also telling us they’re keen to wrap up Christmas Day gatherings by the afternoon and will, on average, be catering to fewer people this year,” said Day.
“The insights help us understand any shifts in consumer behaviour. You can see that the trend towards spending more time relaxing means that meals might also be more casual this year.”
Foodstuffs North Island Head of Meat and Produce Brigit Corson added that this year’s more relaxed approach to Christmas will influence what is served this festive season.
“Strawberries will peak in late November with the tail end running into Christmas after a better growing season and more plants in the ground compared with last year,” said Corson.
“In the main 16 weeks of the season, we’ll sell over five million punnets, so they are a super popular fruit. Increasingly, Kiwis are adding other berries into the mix for Christmas, such as blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.”
Christmas Cherries come from Central Otago, and Corson said the volume available depended on the sunshine and when the warmth kicked in.
“Last year cherries were in eight per cent of all New World and 11 percent of PAK’nSAVE baskets, so they are a very important Christmas item for our customers.”
Keeping things less formal was also likely to influence the type of protein served. Ham was still rated highly on the list, with around 500 tonnes of ham sold in the North Island last year.
“The export meat market for lamb and beef has recovered, meaning local prices will be higher than last year. Despite this, lamb will remain a firm favourite for our customers at Christmas.”
Corson said that they sold over 300 tonnes of lamb legs last year in the two weeks leading into Christmas. However, they anticipated a little under that this year, given higher prices will impact volume.
“I think many of us grabbed more than one leg with the fantastic pricing on offer last year. This year will see a more typical demand return.”
Salmon was also popular, with whole salmon sales doubling in the lead-up to Christmas. Prawns for the barbecue or crayfish for those who wanted to splurge were other favourite options.
Christmas meals will be mostly wrapped up by 3 p.m., with more than 80 percent of consumers intending to host breakfast, brunch, or lunch as their main meal.
Regarding what last-minute gifts consumers might grab on the dash to the supermarket, chocolate, wine, gift cards, and hampers seemed to be the most popular.
