Good intentions and effort are not always enough to please partners, friends, or close relatives. Although most Canary Islanders still prefer surprises when receiving gifts, few end up very satisfied with their presents after Christmas. This is confirmed by the 5th Study on Christmas Shopping in Spain, conducted by the guaranteed buying and selling portal www.PriceMinister.es among more than fifty citizens from all over the Canary Islands. Only 37 percent of Canary Islanders say they were very satisfied with last year's Christmas gifts.
The good news is that 73 percent still have time to get it right, as this is the percentage of Canary Islanders who consider the Epiphany their preferred time to give Christmas gifts. Santa Claus is gaining ground and is the holiday chosen by 15 percent, while 13 percent give gifts both on December 25 and January 6.
To avoid failing with men, it is best to bet on technological products, since 58 percent say that technology-related items, such as computers, mobile phones, ebooks or mp4s are their favorites, closely followed by clothing and to a lesser extent books. In the case of women, clothing ranks first for 59 percent, followed by technological items, trips and getaways.
What is given as a gift
When it comes to giving gifts, 68 percent opt for clothing, toys for the little ones, technological items, books and video games. Among all these items, 64 percent of Canary Islanders have spent an average of 200 euros, while only 10 percent have allocated more than 400 euros to Christmas gifts.
To cope with this high expense, 34 percent of Canary Islanders wait for the sales to buy some of the Christmas gifts and more than 14 percent buy most of the gifts during the sales to benefit from the savings offered by the shops.
But after this important investment for families, what happens to all those gifts that were not liked? After years of leaving them in a corner at the back of the closet, the habit of reselling them is becoming more and more consolidated among Canary Islanders. Almost 20 percent confess to having resold Christmas gifts on some occasion and the experience has been so positive that they plan to repeat it in the future.
Resale, depending on who the gift is from
"No matter how hard we try, it is impossible to always get it right and those gifts that have not been liked or that we do not need can be sold online very easily. This way we do not waste useful space at home and we obtain an extra income that will also help us to overcome the January slope, which in these times of crisis is even harder than usual", says Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, co-founder and President of PriceMinister.es.
The reasons for reselling are clear. 31 percent sell because they did not like the gift, 42 percent because they already had it and 27 percent because they prefer the money. However, the predisposition to sell among Canary Islanders depends to a large extent on who made the gift.
Thus, 72 percent would never sell a gift made by their parents and 54 percent would not do so in the case of another family member. However, the political family is another story, since almost 50 percent could sell gifts from their in-laws without problems. If the gifts have been made by friends, the reservations are reduced even more and 53 percent would be willing to sell them. Gifts from work colleagues get the worst part, because 60 percent of those surveyed would not think twice about reselling them.
