Around 90 Days Until Christmas, A Look Ahead To 2024 Holiday Spending

Before you know it, the holiday shopping season will be here. A new Bankrate data shows that about three of those holiday shoppers (33 percent) plan to spend less on holiday shopping this year than they did last year. Between two and three of the shoppers (24 percent) plan to spend more, and around four shoppers (43 percent) plan to spend about the same. Bankrate’s latest survey reveals that holiday shoppers this year may be feeling the burden of inflation, credit card debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Although advertising tends to push more spending onto Americans, fewer than 1 in 4 holiday shoppers (24 percent) say they expect to spend more in 2024 than they did last year on things like gifts and decorations. Conversely, 1 in 3 holiday shoppers (33 percent) expect to spend less this year. More than 2 in 5 (43 percent) expect to spend about the same. This may be at least partially due to the economy. Thirty-four percent of holiday shoppers say inflation will change the way they shop. Things cost more than they did last year — leaving buyers with less purchasing power.

Also a new forecast from consulting firm Deloitte predicts that holiday spending is likely to grow this year — but not quite as much as in the recent past.  After the first year of the pandemic, consumers went big for the holidays. Spending jumped more than 15% in 2021 and 7.6% in 2022. Last year, growth was slower and Deloitte expects it to moderate even more this year. “I think it’s a return to normal,” said Michael Jeschke at Deloitte. “We’ve moved past the pandemic spike, and we’re going to see a normal 2.3% to 3.3% growth year over year.” On the plus side, he said, the labor market’s solid. “You’ve got disposable income that is remaining strong, and inflation continues to come down too.” At the same time, credit card debt is up and the savings rate is down. Bryan Eshelman at AlixPartners said it’s notable that consumers seem less willing to spend on experiences. “Which is a real change in direction. That’s been a trend over the past few years, as people’ve been spending more on travel and entertainment,” he said. “And we’re seeing consumers express a desire to cut back on that type of spending” because it’s now a lot more expensive.

Source: Marketplace & Bankrate