In search of the perfect gift: what do South Africans give each other for Christmas?

The closer we get to Christmas, the more relevant the question “What gift should I buy?” becomes. Picodi South Africa analyst team took a closer look at Google query statistics and created a ranking of the most popular Christmas gifts.

The list of queries we analysed consists of various gift suggestions, ranging from traditional gifts such as chocolate, toys and cosmetics to modern tech, including smartwatches, smart speakers and air humidifiers. We compared how the popularity of these queries changed in December 2022 compared to the average popularity in other months of the year.

Data collected and analysed by Picodi shows that the most popular Christmas gift in South Africa is a set of cosmetics – the number of Google queries in December increased by 231% compared to the average from the January-November period.

The second most popular gift is a gift set (208% increase). Following in the third spot is a massager (122% increase).

In the UK, the top three gift choices align with South African preferences — cosmetics sets rank first, followed by gift sets in second place. The third most favoured gift is a beanie. In the US, gift sets hold popularity alongside pyjamas. Meanwhile, in Australia, besides gift sets, gift cards stand out as a very common Christmas gift.

Methodology

The ranking was created based on the increase in popularity of gift-related Google queries in December 2022 compared to the rest of the year, utilising data collected through Google Trends.

Public use

The infographics and the statistical data in this report can be used freely for commercial and non-commercial purposes. We only ask you to credit the research author (Picodi South Africa) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at research@picodi.com.