Survey: Despite inflation, holiday shopping intent looks strong
A solid majority of consumers will spend at least $100 this holiday season.
According to the 2022 Holiday Preview from market research data and technology company Numerator, roughly six in 10 (59%) surveyed consumers expect to spend more than $200 on holiday purchases in 2022. Another 12% will spend $150 to $200 and 8% will spend $100 to $150, meaning about eight in 10 (79%) respondents will spend a minimum of $100 during the 2022 holiday season.
Only a combined 12% of respondents plan to spend $50 or less. Eighty-four percent of respondents plan to purchase Christmas gifts, while 34% intend to purchase Hanukkah gifts and 8% will purchase New Year’s Eve gifts.
The most widely celebrated holiday is Thanksgiving, with 97% of surveyed consumers planning to observe the 2022 Thanksgiving holiday. Other widely celebrated fall and winter holidays include Christmas (96%), New Year’s Eve (83%), and Halloween (78%), with 14% of respondents planning to celebrate Hanukkah.
Despite these robust spending plans, nearly nine in 10 (89%) surveyed consumers expect inflation to have an impact on their 2022 holiday shopping and spending, with a combined 59% expecting that the impact will be moderate or significant.
One in 10 (11%) say there will be no impact from inflation on their holiday spending. The survey also reveals that nearly three-fourths (73%) of respondents expect COVID-19 to have an impact on their 2022 holiday celebrations, with 38% expecting the impact to be moderate or significant.
Eighty-two percent of surveyed consumers intend to shop online for holiday purchases, slightly more than the 79% who expect to shop inn a physical store. Of respondents who plan to shop online for holiday purchases, two-thirds (65%) will use delivery fulfillment services while 44% will use some type of pickup service.
Top holiday shopping verticals include mass retailer (79%), grocery store (64%), club/wholesale retailer (46%), specialty retailer (craft, costume, etc.) 32%, and drug store (27%).
Survey: Holiday shoppers start early, seek deals
Seventy percent of surveyed shoppers say they are looking for more deals and sales this year versus last to help them save money, according to a report by global digital marketing platform LTK. Consumers are also looking to save money by shopping earlier. Thirty-six percent say they plan to shop even earlier this year than last, and 47% plan to start buying their gifts between September and mid-October.
LTK’s “Holiday Shopping Predictions Report” also found that over half of shoppers intend to spend the same or more on holiday gifts 2022. Clothing and accessories ranked as the top (26%) category, followed by candy/food/gift baskets (24%), toys (23%) and electronics (21%).
In addition, the LTK study indicated shoppers are also turning to their phones for holiday shopping, as 86% of consumers plan to shop from their phones. Nearly half of millennials plan to do the majority of their shopping on their phones. Another 72% said their shopping originates from social media. The figure is even higher for millennials (81%) and Gen Z (83%).