A person walks past retail stores at the Lincoln Road mall on December 14, 2021, in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle via Getty Images
By Howard Ruben
Source: www.retaildive.com, September 2024

Concerns around high interest rates and inflation are stressing consumers’ budgets, according to a recent report.

Dive Brief:

  • Citing continued inflation and high interest rates, 33% of consumers say they will spend less this year on holiday shopping than in 2023, per a new report from Bankrate.
  • Just 24% of shoppers surveyed said they would spend more this holiday season, while 43% will spend about the same. Nearly a quarter of shoppers said that the cost of holiday shopping will stress their budgets.
  • The survey of 2,300 U.S. adults found that older generations tend to be more stressed about holiday spending, led by Gen X at 34%, followed by millennials (29%), boomers (25%) and Gen Z (21%).

Dive Insight:

Bankrate’s recent holiday report indicates how inflation and other macroeconomic factors are putting pressure on consumers’ wallets this season.

“It seems that holiday shoppers will be more frugal this year, as multiple years of high inflation and high interest rates have taken a considerable toll,” Ted Rossman, Bankrate senior industry analyst, said in a statement.

Concern over pricing has holiday shoppers hesitant, yet still planning to spend. Of the 2,300 surveyed by Bankrate, 1,789 responded planning to shop for the holidays this year.

And that shopping may be starting earlier. Almost half of all those surveyed by Bankrate said they would start shopping for the holidays by Halloween.

For the past several years, retailers, including Walmart, Target, Amazon and Best Buy have rolled out October sales events for the holiday season. Amazon last month announced that its big holiday promotion will be back for Prime members this October.

“While some people scoff that the holiday shopping season seems to start earlier every year, getting off to an early start gives you more time to comparison shop for the best deals and spread out the impact of your purchases,” Rossman said.

E-commerce will be a key channel this season, with 42% of respondents saying most of their holiday purchases would be done online, compared to 23% of shoppers who intend to do most of their holiday shopping in stores, according to Bankrate.

Recent surveys also suggest that more shoppers, most notably Gen Z, will make their holiday purchases using such social media platforms as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. And a report from Adobe Analytics predicts that more than half of online sales this holiday season will occur on mobile devices.