Maybe Christmas . . . doesn’t come from a store.
Nearly two in three Americans say the economy will make the holidays less fun this year, according to a new report from WalletHub called “The Grinch Economy.”
With inflation high, the labor market cooling and fears about tariffs boosting prices, consumers plan to tighten their belts this holiday season.
As many as 85% of people surveyed said they’ll spend either the same amount or less compared to last year – while 60% said they planned to give less to charity.
And that’s not all – one in three say they’ll go as far as applying for a new credit card just to help with holiday shopping, and almost half won’t pay for gifts in full by the due date.
In fact, one in four people are still paying off last year’s holiday debt, WalletHub found.
“So that’s a signal that maybe some folks may be getting a little tightening in their budgets this year,” said Chip Lupo, an analyst at WalletHub.
“Now just by spending the same or less, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get more bang for your buck – because prices are inflated in a number of product categories.”
Still, consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 9.1% from last year and slightly above forecast, Adobe Analytics found.
“The magnitude of discounts yesterday has been a key driver of online demand,” explains Vivek Pandya, Abode Director of Digital Insights.
“Consumers have been conditioned to wait for big promotional events to buy products they’ve had their eyes on.”
Between 10 am and 2 pm, an eye-watering $12.5 million was spent online every single minute, Adobe said. More than half — 55% of online sales — came through a mobile device, up 10.2%, suggesting possible impulse shopping.
Adobe observed large upticks Friday in purchases of electronics, appliances and toys.
“Those tariffs looming does mean that there’s going to be a run on electronics and also apparel, because those are the two categories in which the majority of the products are made outside of the US,” said Lupo.
AI traffic – measured by shoppers clicking on a link - increased by a whopping 805% year over year, and consumers who landed on a retail site through a link were 38% more likely to buy.
Unsurprisingly, buy now pay later was up 8.9% from last year, representing $747.5 million in online spending.
Meanwhile, in-store traffic was down 3.6% nationwide on Black Friday, according to RetailNext.
“We’re seeing a consumer who is still spending, but doing it with surgical precision,” said Joe Shasteen, RetailNext’s global manager of advanced analytics. “They’re waiting for the right price, stretching purchases across a longer promo window, and walking into stores with a far narrower mission than we’ve seen in past holiday seasons.”
“The morning looked more like a busy Saturday than the traditional Black Friday crunch,” added Katherine Black, Food, Drug and Mass Market retail lead at Kearny, who spent the day at the Westchester mall, the Greenwich Avenue strip and also checked out local discounters.
In store spending focused on essentials, while more discretionary sectors like home, footwear and jewelry took the sharper hit, RetailNext found.
“What we’re watching play out is the ‘value era’ of US retail,” said Shasteen. “Shoppers are deal-hungry, inflation-trained, and unwilling to buy outside their priorities.”
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