Russians’ spending on goods and services during the New Year vacations this year amounted to 115 billion rubles – 45% more than for January 1-8, 2022. The number of products and services paid for increased by the same amount. This is evidenced by the statistics of the First OFD (part of VTB Group (MCX:VTBR)), which occupies 17% of the Russian fiscal data market.

According to the statistics cited in VTB’s press release, among the main categories of spending are food, services, clothing and footwear.

Spending on food

According to calculations of the First OFD, Russians spent almost 23 billion rubles on food purchases during the vacations, which is 38% more than a year earlier. The most spent on groceries and dairy products, cheese and eggs, as well as confectionery.

The demand for frozen meat, as well as kebabs and steaks, has increased in multiples. Spending on fast food (burgers, sandwiches and hot dogs) and ready-made desserts increased by more than a third, spending on energy drinks and sports nutrition, as well as on cocoa and hot chocolate increased by more than a quarter. At the same time, spending on vegetarian products decreased by 11%, on eggs – by 15%, on seafood – by 21%, a quarter less was spent on dumplings and khinkali and on cake crusts.

Spending on retail services

The second place in terms of spending during the vacations is occupied by spending on services for retail consumers (including utilities, transportation, medical, courier, insurance, communication services, etc.). In total, Russians spent about 20 billion rubles in this area, which is 2.2 times higher than last year. Expenditures increased for all types of services, except for tourist services (5-fold decrease) and betting services (4-fold decrease).

Shopping

The third place is traditionally occupied by spending on clothes and shoes: during the holiday shopping Russians spent over 10 billion rubles on them – 40% more than in the same period a year ago. Among them, spending on sweaters and cardigans, pants and vests, as well as on footwear increased approximately one and a half times.

Demand dynamics

The greatest dynamics was demonstrated by goods for holidays – the growth of spending on them exceeded 2.4 times year-on-year. Spending on household goods also almost doubled, spending on accessories and fuel increased by more than 80%, while spending on furniture increased by 63%. Spending on electronics and accessories, kitchenware, creative and beauty products, and printed materials increased by a third.

At the same time, according to the First OFD, the spending of Russians to prepare for the New Year in December decreased by 17% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 1.8 billion rubles. The most significant – by a third – decrease in spending on the purchase of Christmas trees and Christmas toys.