giving cash handshakes (‘salam tempel’) and splurging on their traditional homecoming (‘mudik’) during the festival of Eid-al-Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan, they also like to shop for stuff if they have the means. Mostly it’s about food, but they buy other things as well. Jakpat, a market research platform based in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, has been conducting annual surveys of Ramadan consumer spending activity via panel surveys of consumers from across the nation, though overwhelmingly from the main island of Java. In 2024, it surveyed more than 1100 consumers aged 15-50 post-Ramadan, while this year they conducted the survey in January to gather information about intentions. Predictably, there are strong similarities between this year’s intentions and last year’s report. Aside from food, the overwhelming majority (92 per cent) of those who spent something on other needs last year shopped for clothes. The next most popular categories were fashion accessories, footwear and praying equipment. Makeup and skincare were also popular (43 per cent across both genders and 60 per cent of women). As Jakpat summarised: Much of the shopping was, in one way or another, for items that “support their appearance”. The platforms of choice were also interesting: Except for two categories (bags/wallets and makeup/skincare, which consumers have a strong preference for purchasing online), in-store and online shopping were roughly preferred equally, but at different times: Online shopping was preferred immediately before Ramadan and during the first half of the month, while in-store shopping gained ascendancy in the second half of the month. The most common price points for hampers were US$6-US$15, though some spent a lot more. Especially popular for gifts were food hampers consisting of cookies, packaged snacks and drinks, groceries, and ready-to-eat food. The fourth week of Ramadan is the favourite time to buy and send hampers because it is closer to Eid-al-Fitr. Of course, the money for this spending has to come from somewhere, and in Indonesia, the Eid-al-fitr (THR) allowance is of crucial importance. The Eid-al-Fitr allowance is a mandatory bonus of one month’s salary paid to employees who have been working for a full year. (It is prorated for employees who have worked less than a year.) In 2024, almost 60 per cent of respondents to Jakpat’s survey dipped into this allowance to finance their spending. How will this year be different? For its 2025 survey, Jakpat surveyed almost 2000 respondents in January about their intentions. This should be caveated: There is a large body of evidence in academia that surveys of consumer spending intentions can be wildly inaccurate. What people say they will do and what they will do can diverge greatly. This year, the survey was a bit more robust because the number of respondents was almost doubled. There were some similarities to last year but some differences, too. Zakat and food shopping still topped the list and with very similar percentages of respondents. Iftar (a meal taken communally after sunset each day to break the fast) moved up the list to number three and shopping for items other than food comes next. Again, clothes are the overwhelmingly most popular category, favoured by more than 90 per cent of respondents. Praying equipment (68 per cent), fashion accessories (58 per cent) and footwear (57 per cent) are all popular categories as well. More than half of women also intended to buy makeup/skincare products. The channel mix this year appears to be tilted more toward online shopping over in-store, particularly for the popular categories of clothing and footwear, which last year were more equally balanced. However, the timing pattern is the same, with online sales preferred leading up to and including the first two weeks of Ramadan and then a shift toward physical outlets in the second half of the month. The gifting of hampers will also be an important part of holiday spending for many Indonesians, with cookies, packaged food and drinks, groceries and ready-to-eat foods topping the list of items. The majority of hampers (57 per cent) are given in the third and fourth weeks of the month and another 21 per cent are given on the day of Eid-al-Fitr. Hamper budgets seem to be more generous than last year, with 63 per cent in the range of US$6-US$30 and another 20 per cent between US$30 and US$60. The THR allowance is again a major source of funding for Ramadan spending, second only to regular salary.  One more thing. Watch out for the traffic from the fourth week onward because well over half of respondents said they would travel from where they live on holiday or for mudik and they are going to be hitting the road in full force during the fourth week of the month. It’s going to be chaotic out there. Meanwhile, in Malaysia Ramadan is also under way for Malaysia’s more than 20 million Muslims and, as usual, food, fashion and personal care will be at the top of the spending list. When it comes to food, Malaysians are fed up with inflated prices and deflated products during Ramadan and the government there is trying to do its bit to keep the lid on things. Top of its list of priorities is making sure that food sellers are on a level playing field when it comes to paying for their space in the bazaars. Price gouging became an unfortunate feature of past Ramadans, not by the vendors themselves but by certain unscrupulous individuals who bought up licences and resold them to genuine traders at vastly inflated prices. The government is now ensuring that licences are sold only to individuals who are manning a shop and selling food. The licenses got so expensive for the vendors that they were inclined to cut down on ingredients, leading to a nationwide joke about air-filled curry puffs. Mind you, when people are hungry and tired after fasting, empty curry pastries are no laughing matter. Further reading: “At the starting line”: Building relationships and loyalty over Ramadan