Revealed: Brits to spend most with Amazon and Tesco this Christmas

Retail Week has revealed exclusive new research, based on a survey of 1,000 UK shoppers, uncovering when, where and how they plan to spend this golden quarter. 

Customers have also given a definitive answer on the retailers they intend to do the most Christmas shopping with, by volume, and Amazon and Tesco have come up trumps.  

The findings are uncovered in The Christmas Consumer report – published in association with Vypr, which you can access for free here. 

Below we give a short preview of what Amazon, Tesco and other top-named retailers’ Christmas strategies have in common. 

Convenience

Amazon is where shoppers say they expect to do most of their shopping this Christmas – in fact, it was named twice as often as any other retailer – and convenience and range came up repeatedly; “they have everything”, explained one respondent.

The opportunity to purchase food and drink, alongside gifting, festive fashion and essential Christmas wrapping supplies in the same place was a common theme across a number of the most named retailers on the list, showing that during the busy Christmas period becoming a one-stop-shop might be a strategy that really pays off.

It was certainly one that worked for Amazon last year. Globally, it reported net sales of £157.2bn in the three months to December 31, 2025, with a 13.6% increase on the same figure in 2024. It was also the most visited retail site on Black Friday 2025 according to digital data intelligence platform Similarweb. 

Flexible and competitively priced delivery options, including same and next-day, and creating a frictionless end-to-end purchase-to-fulfilment journey were all cited as key reasons to shop with retailers at peak.

Loyalty

The most quoted retailers were also predominantly praised for personalised loyalty and discounting schemes. 

Rewards are of utmost importance to cash-strapped shoppers at Christmas, with many telling us they are saving up perks specifically to spend in the festive period.  

The study found that 17% of UK shoppers expect to pay for the majority of their Christmas shopping with loyalty points or rewards. Marketing research firm NIQ finds this number to stretch to 40% of households.

Several retailers have invested in their loyalty propositions this year. In June, Tesco – the second most-named retailer in our survey – expanded its Clubcard loyalty offering, launching a version for 16 and 17-year-olds, giving younger customers access to Clubcard Prices deals for the first time.  

In September, John Lewis Partnership – also cited by shoppers in the survey – announced an aim to deliver £100m in additional profit from loyalty programmes as part of its three-year turnaround plan, which will include money-off vouchers and offers.

It seems in the highly competitive golden quarter market, the differentiation of a loyalty scheme can be the deciding factor in where shoppers spend.  

Value

It comes as no surprise that value is top of mind for shoppers this Christmas. Many of the top retailers named by shoppers were explicitly called out for helping stretch already tight purse strings.

Shoppers told us across several categories that they expect to trade down and buy cheaper alternatives this year; 18% in food and grocery, 14% in health and beauty and 11% in fashion. 

But shoppers don’t want to massively compromise on quality when buying cheaper gifts. ‘Quality’ was one of the most repeated terms quoted in responses to this survey question. The retailers set to win out are those offering what feels like a more premium product, but not at a premium price point.

Marks & Spencer – also called out by shoppers in this survey as one of the top retailers they will spend with this golden quarter – achieved notable success in this niche last Christmas with its ‘Remarskable Value’ range. The selection saw sales increase 14% from October to December, with its ‘bigger pack, better value’ range seeing 10% growth over Christmas last year. The range is designed to “offer M&S quality at a trusted low price, without compromising on industry-leading sourcing standards,” the retailer explained.