Christmas 2024: 24 data-driven festive facts and stats

1. Step on it, Santa

It’s been calculate that in order to successfully visit every home in the world on Christmas Eve, Santa, Rudolph and the gang would need a sleigh that could travel at approximately 2,340,000 mph.

Of course, we could help – using Customer Intelligence we could work out exactly which homes are on his ‘nice’ list and slow things down for St. Nick.

2. Know who you’re buying for

There’s a staggering £21 billion that will be spent this year on Christmas gifts for family and friends!

Customer Intelligence is a great way to make sure you are getting the right things for the right people, whether you know them or not! Check out our case studies to find out more info on how AI can know who’s in market to buy, and what they’re likely to be interested in.

3. Supply and demand

We all love tucking into our Christmas Dinner, right? Well, clearly not enough! We produce over 230,000 tonnes of waste each year including 7.5 million mince pies and an eye-watering 740,000 portions of Christmas pudding! 

 

4. Gobble gobble

Statistics show us that there are 10,000,000 turkeys cooked in the United Kingdom alone every Christmas. Put it this way, if you’re leaving it until the 24th to get yours, there’s a high probability of you leaving the supermarket disappointed!

Stores and suppliers can use our AI-powered Inventory Optimization solutions to keep certain products stocked to the right levels, for the right time of year.

5. Love them or hate them?

Christmas time is the most important time of year – especially for this leafy veggie. Arguably more divisive than the Bounty from a box of Celebrations, some of us love sprouts; but only at Christmas time!

 

6. Re-use and recycle, people!

Waste is a real issue at Christmas, and every year we use far too much wrapping paper than we need. Have a quick Google and see if you can find a more environmentally-friendly alternative!

7. Absolutely crackers

So many crackers, so many disappointing jokes, so many useless trivia facts…There’s a massive 300,000,000 Christmas crackers pulled over the holidays. You might think that cracker-pulling comes with a 50/50 chance of victory…

…but remember that, with AI, you could analyze other factors and how they’ll affect your chances of winning (e.g. how many glasses of champagne you’ve had…)

8. No light burden

Playstations, laptops, those massive selection boxes full of chocolate — they’re not the lightest things in the world. According to statistics, Santa’s sleigh would weigh around 354,430 tonnes on Christmas Eve due to the number of houses he has to deliver to. Spare a thought for poor Rudolph next time you ask for a bike for Christmas…

With that many presents to organize, it sounds like Santa could do with some help with warehouse optimization…

9. Return to sender

Online shopping has undoubtedly made life easier at Christmas. However, it’s also made us lazier! If you’ve left it this late, good luck – Amazon received 41 orders per second on its busiest day last Christmas!

 

10. Show me the Champagne

We all have our own Christmas family routines – but, on the whole, they usually involve a drink or two at a far earlier time than is normally socially acceptable. Apparently, most of us will pour ourselves a first glass of something special at 11:07am.

11. Wrap it up!

By now, you’ve probably mastered the perfect fake reaction of happiness and gratitude to those oh-so-underwhelming presents. Stats show that one in five unwanted presents are then passed on to someone else as a gift — let’s face it, no one wants socks for Christmas, do they?

12. Christmas really is out of this world

Yep — we weren’t joking when we said wrapping paper is a real issue! Amazingly, with all of the wrapping paper that we throw away at Christmas, you could reach the moon…

13. The clock is ticking…

Most people start to properly do their Christmas shopping on December 13th. According to DHL, it’s the busiest day for gift buying, with the number of packages at its service points up by as much as 99% some years. Still not started? No, us neither…

Learn how we worked with delivery experience company Sorted to help optimize delivery times using data and AI.

14. A different kind of Olympics

At Christmas, every night feels like a Saturday night, right? Us Brits certainly know how to unwind, with a headache-inducing 250,000,000 pints of beer to be consumed over the holidays in the UK. 

Maybe stock up on those hangover cures, too…

15. Shopping sustainably

The hunt for more eco-friendly, sustainable gifts is on the up! Give the gift of something longer-lasting (no one likes cheap throwaway tat anyway!)

16. It was Christmas Eve babe, in the drunk tank…

Christmas songs, love them or hate them, are unavoidable. Figures show that the big three — ‘Last Christmas’, ‘Fairytale of New York’ and ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ — will be aired 404,000,000 times across UK radio over the festive period. Wow. Talk about overkill, huh?

Thankfully, services like music streaming platform Leaf put you in control of exactly what you listen to. Check out this case study to find out how we increased their user base by 97% in just four months.

17. Boxing Day is bonkers

You spend all that time finding the perfect gift, then it ends up at half-price the day after. 17,000,000 hours will be spent online shopping on Boxing Day, but I guess browsing on your shiny new tablet is a lot better than getting up at 6am to go and queue at your local retail park, right?

18. COOKIES!

Take a look at how many cookies old St Nick would have if he took just two bites from every cookie in the world on Christmas Eve (he’s always eaten every bit of mine…)

19. Need a drink with that?

With millions of cookies consumed, your mouth is bound to get a bit dry. See how Santa washes them down…

20. Don’t forget Rudolph

We can’t forget everyone’s favorite red-nosed reindeer! If Santa eats this much, how much would his four-legged buddies need? Here’s the answer…

21. Do you want to build a snowman?

The world’s largest-ever snowman stood at a colossal 113ft tall! Ice one. (Sorry…)

22. Screen, screens and more screens

Check out how we all use our phones in order to find the best buys – and how this is, year by year, changing Christmas shopping forever!

23. Let there be light!

A whopping 17,500 homes could be powered for an entire year with the electricity we would save if everyone switched to using LED lights at Christmas!

Next year use sustainable options to power your Christmas decorations!

24. Be ready for the best Christmas adverts yet

We all have our own Christmas traditions. But a big part of everyone’s is waiting to see who has the best Christmas advert, isn’t it? Well, there should be some tough competition this year with companies spending more than they ever have done on Christmas advertising.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at Peak! Keep up to date with our latest news and insights by following us on social media — you can find us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.