Easter spending on track to reach $22.4 billion

Shoppers are once again ramping up their Easter spending, with discount stores and department stores getting the most traffic.

Consumer spending is expected to reach a total of $22.4 billion on Easter (March 31) this year, according to the annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The figure is the second highest in the survey’s history, after last year’s record-setting $24 billion when the holiday fell nine days later in the year.  

A majority of Americans (81%) plan to celebrate the holiday in 2024, the same as last year. They plan to spend an average of $177.06 per person, the third highest per-person spend in the survey’s history, after $192.01 last year and $179.70 in 2021.   

Consumers continue to spend the most on food ($7.3 billion), followed by clothing ($3.5 billion) and gifts ($3.4 billion). Additionally, spending on candy is expected to reach $3.1 billion while spending on flowers is expected to reach $1.6 billion.

The top destinations to purchase Easter gifts include discount stores (53%), followed by department stores (40%), online (33%), local/small businesses (22%) and specialty stores (20%).   

Consumers plan to celebrate holiday traditions in much the same way as previous years. The most popular Easter Sunday activities include cooking a holiday meal (57%), visiting friends and family (53%) and going to church (43%). Half (51%) of households with children are planning an Easter egg hunt at home. 

According to the survey, consumers said they are inspired to shop for Easter-related items because it’s tradition (64%), a social activity with family or friends (32%), or because of sales and promotions (29%).  

“The overall shopping experience itself also plays a role in purchasing behavior,” said Prosper executive VP of strategy Phil Rist said. “This year almost one-quarter of consumers said they were inspired to shop for Easter items from store displays and decorations as well as exclusive or seasonal products.” 

Over half (55%) of those not celebrating Easter still plan to take advantage of holiday-related sales. They expect to spend an average of $20.52 per person, or $0.62 billion in total, on these items.   

The survey of 8,372 U.S. adult consumers was conducted March 1 - 6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.