Survey: Majority of consumers will shop retail holiday sales, buy themselves items

A large majority of holiday shoppers plan to use Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to find items for themselves.

According to a new survey from shopping platform Slickdeals, 70% of consumers plan to buy items for themselves, while 67% said they will also shop for immediate family members. Nearly nine-in-10 (87%) of survey respondents who shopped Black Friday or Cyber Monday last year said they plan to again this year, while 11% said they will consider it and only 2% said they had no plans to.

The top categories on which consumers plan to spend  include clothing and shoes (72%), toys (56%), personal care and cosmetics (54%), tech and electronics (54%), home goods (48%) and gift cards (48%). The most anticipated items for Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year include new smartphones, laptops and TVs (63%), clothing (59%), toys (58%), video games (54%) and kitchen appliances (44%).

Those not planning to shop the holiday sales this year are mainly driven by the impact of inflation and high costs on their disposable income (52%). More than four-in-10 (43%) survey respondents said they won't shop because they are trying to spend less due to fear of recession. More than half (54%) said that inflation is the leading concern for all respondents when it comes to socioeconomic factors impacting their holiday shopping this year.

A majority of respondents (59%) said they will do their holiday shopping during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events, while 12% said they will shop in early December. Three-percent will wait until the last minute, shopping right before the holidays, while 1% stated they were already done with their holiday shopping prior to October. A quarter (24%) of consumers said they feel burnout from frequent sale events offered by retailers.

The Slickdeals survey interviewed 1,334 nationally representative U.S. adults who shopped during either Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales in 2022.