How consumers will celebrate Labor Day
A new survey reveals consumer plans for observing the upcoming U.S. Labor Day holiday (Monday, Sept. 4).
The “2023 Labor Day Intentions Preview” from Numerator reveals that 60% of surveyed U.S. consumers intend to celebrate Labor Day this year, down 20% from the 75% who planned to observe the holiday in 2022.
Inflation will have an impact on consumer Labor Day plans, as 42% of participating respondents expect rising prices to impact their Labor Day spending. A substantial 86% of participating respondents anticipate taking money-saving measures for the holiday, including buying items on sale (54%), preparing more budget-friendly meals (35%), using more coupons (32%), switching to store brands (23%), and visiting dollar or discount stores (20%).
While the same amount of respondents planning to celebrate Labor Day intend to grill this year as last year (61%), celebrations are shifting away from attending or hosting a gathering/party (41% in 2023 vs. 53% in 2022) to plans such as cooking/baking (26% vs. 20%), recreational activities (21% vs 12%), traveling (19% vs. 13%), and watching fireworks (16% vs 10%).
Nine in 10 (89%) participating respondents intend to buy food, including hamburgers (83%), hot dogs (67%), chicken (60%), and steak (41%). The top alcohol purchases are beer (74%), hard seltzers (34%), and wine (33%).
Almost all (98%) participating respondents intend to purchase something for the holiday. Popular non-food planned purchases, include party supplies, (16%), decorations (12%), games/activities, (10%) and apparel (8%).
Numerator’s 2023 Labor Day survey was fielded Aug. 2-7, 2023, to 518 individuals.
Record back-to-school season overlaps Labor Day
Labor Day shopping is occurring concurrently with back-to-school shopping, and according to the National Retail Federation, back-to-school spending is expected to reach an “unparalleled” $41.5 billion in 2023, up from $36.9 billion last year and the previous high of $37.1 billion in 2021.
As of early July, 55% of consumers who are buying for back-to-class said they had already started shopping. This is on par with last year, but is up from 44% in 2019, and is in line with the trend of consumers shopping earlier for major spending events. While consumers have started shopping early, as of early July, 85% said they still had at least half of their shopping left to do.