Report: Despite rising budgets, daily inflation to impact holiday spending
While holiday budgets are increasing overall, almost half of consumers say that high prices on essentials are leading them to cut back this season.
According to a new survey from direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce platform ESW, 61% of consumers said they would spend more than $600 this year, compared to 48% last year. However, among consumers who said they will reduce spending, 47% cited high prices on everyday items such as groceries and gasoline as the reason they will spend less for the 2024 holiday season.
With consumers becoming more conscious of their spending, quality and price were the most important consideration for 66% of shoppers this holiday season. Only 13% of shoppers agree that brand name is most important when purchasing gifts.
Black Friday (35%) and Amazon Big Deals Day (24%) are the most popular days that consumers plan to shop for holiday sales, outshining Cyber Monday (15%) and Columbus Day (7%). To get a jump on low prices, 37% of shoppers have already started their holiday shopping. A quarter (25%) indicated that they will start in October, and 30% said November. Only 8% will start in December.
Just about half (49%) of shoppers say they will only purchase items that they can return for free. Nearly four-in-10 (38%) shoppers will pay between $1 and $9 for expedited shipping, while 31% say they will not pay for expedited shipping. For free shipping, 41% of shoppers would wait four to seven days for their packages to arrive, and 27% would wait eight to 10 days.
[READ MORE: Gift cards to dominate holiday budgets]
“Even though global inflation is coming down, many consumers are still feeling stretched due to high essentials costs,” said Martim Avillez Oliveira, ESW’s chief revenue officer. “One way retailers can weather the variables of this coming holiday season can be with a robust global commerce platform. Forty-three percent of consumers say that they plan to shop more online this holiday season giving global DTC ecommerce retailers a greater opportunity to capture a bigger share, and consumers an opportunity to find better prices, in what looks to be a very competitive holiday shopping season.”
For the data, ESW conducted an online survey of 1,107 U.S. adults aged 18+ on Aug. 29, 2024.
