Consumers across Europe are set to rein in their spending over the festive period, business consultancy Deloitte has predicted.

Just days after around one in four of the British families polled by the Family and Parenting Institute admitted that their current household income was insufficient to meet their bill commitments, this latest research has suggested that consumers are likely to spend up to seven per cent less than last year.

Notably, 12 per cent of the British adults questioned indicated that they intend to cut back on their seasonal socialising, while 56 per cent now plan on doing some or all of their Christmas shopping in UK supermarkets in a bid to keep costs down.

Commenting on the findings, Richard Hyman, strategic advisor for retail practice at Deloitte, said: "I think the main headline is this is worst Christmas for a generation.

"But as a nation we'll be spending £36 billion so it's not a total disaster," he added, however.

Despite the current economic climate almost one in five consumers currently plan on spending more this year than they did for Christmas 2007.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/p...icleID=18871444

no question about it. In the USA, I think things will be off at least 10% in retail sector - possibly 15% less spending over last year....and last year was not that good.

In the UK the sales have already started.