The holiday season has conventionally been a time of significance to retailers. The compounding effects of national holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as a successive series of shopping festivals – Singles’ Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday – have seen
, compared to the other quarters of the year. Unfortunately, the bright mood has been dampened by the dark cloud of inflation. Driven by multiple factors, the
, marking a major spike in the last decade. In a survey conducted in August 2022,
as their prime concern for the holiday season.
Consumers are voicing their concerns
In 2023,
nearly half of consumers in the United States cited price as their primary consideration when making shopping decisions during the holiday season, far surpassing other factors such as quality and uniqueness. In the previous year, many coped with higher prices by
investing more time in price comparison and
buying only discounted items, as well as testing out other price-reducing strategies such as using coupons and switching to store brands. In addition, a
survey conducted in 2023 revealed that seven in 10 consumers worldwide planned to scale back on gift-giving to extended family and friends, and to pare down on items, such as decorative lights, which would increase utility costs. This attitude of seasonal austerity was adopted to its extreme by
four in 10 shoppers in the United Kingdom, who stated that they would cut all expenses related to Black Friday and Christmas spending due to the increased cost of living in 2022.
Are consumers actually tightening their purse strings?
Despite the prevailing somber mood, it seems that holiday season spending has not actually suffered a significant downturn. In fact, the figures are looking up. In the U.S.,
online Black Friday spending hit a record 9.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, while sales for Cyber Monday are expected to grow by around five percent, hitting a new high of approximately
12 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Over in Europe,
Christmas spending had also generally increased over the past five years, and is predicted to grow further, if only slightly, in 2023.
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