The days following the Thanksgiving holiday have traditionally been one of the biggest shopping periods, but with rising prices and a modest economy, what does that mean for gift-giving and spending?
“Inflation is definitely a guest at a lot of people’s holiday celebrations this year,” said WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, conducted a holiday shopping survey to find out what people are planning this holiday season and how much they are going to spend.
“50% of people said that Santa will be less generous this year due to inflation. And about a third of people, 28%, will spend less than last year on holiday shopping,” Gonzalez said.
In addition to things being more expensive, there have also been layoffs in the past few weeks, which Gonzalez said put people more on edge about job security and saving more for the unexpected.
And there has also been credit card debt.
“I think a lot of people also have credit card debt already. We really saw record amounts, kind of after the peak of the pandemic subsided. So this year, especially, we’re seeing spending year round. So now I think people are losing steam,” Gonzalez said.
Forty percent of respondents said they are even foregoing holiday gifts this year because of inflation. So what does this mean for Black Friday numbers?
“It’s not just due to inflation, right now. Black Friday is no longer a singular day … It really has turned into a whole season,” Gonzalez said. “We saw people get their shopping done back in October, when Amazon and Target and Walmart had their big deal days.”
The survey found that 56% of respondents will do more of their holiday shopping online this year than they did last year.
That means that the bottom line for Black Friday numbers will be harder to measure, but Gonzalez believes that stores will not see the numbers they have been used to seeing during this weekend.
And the other thing taking a hit this year: charity giving.
“A quarter of Americans said that they plan on being less charitable this year than last,” Gonzalez said.
WTOP’s Stetson Miller contributed to this report.
