Holiday budgets are increasing for the consumer yet high prices, especially when it comes to essentials, is prompting half of consumers to cut back on holiday spend.
That's top findings from an ESW survey that also revealed consumers value quality and price over brand names.
Sixty-one percent plan to spend more than $600 this year, compared to 48% last year, according to a press release on the findings. However, among consumers who will reduce spending, 47% cited high prices on everyday items such as groceries and gasoline as why they will spend less in the 2024 holiday season.
"Even though global inflation is coming down, many consumers are still feeling stretched due to high essentials costs. One way retailers can weather the variables of this coming holiday season can be with a robust global commerce platform," Martim Avillez Oliveira, ESW's chief revenue officer, said in the release. "Forty-three percent of consumers say that they plan to shop more online this holiday season giving global DTC e-commerce 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."
Additional findings include:
- Just over half (51%) of all consumers say that they will not use TikTok for holiday shopping; however, when broken down by age demographics, 65% of millennials and Gen Z combined will use TikTok for inspiration.
- Black Friday (35%) and Amazon Big Deals Day (24%) are most popular days that consumers plan to shop for holiday sales, outshining Cyber Monday (15%) and Columbus Day (7%).
- Nearly half (49%) of shoppers will only purchase items that they can return for free. 38% of 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 will wait 4-7 days for their packages to arrive, and 27% will wait 8-10 days.