Consumer Behavior

Consumer more price-conscious this holiday season

Adobe Stock

September 6, 2023

A good number, 80%, of U.S. consumers will spend less on gift this holiday season, with nearly 50% planning to spend under $1,000.

Two-thirds, 75%, will shop online for most of holiday gifts, and 26% will avoid Black Friday entirely.

Those are findings from a survey commissioned by Celigo on holiday shopping trends.

The "2023 Holiday Shopping Trends Report," polled over 1,000 consumers nationwide and also revealed consumers are increasingly embracing the convenience and product availability of online and early shopping.

"The lingering impact of inflation and COVID has made consumers even more value-conscious and discerning about their holiday shopping experience, therefore, retailers must be prepared to meet their demands right now," Mark Simon, VP of strategy at Celigo, said in a press release on the findings. "Retailers can no longer deploy a generic, one-size-fits-all approach to Holiday shopping. Instead, they must make more personalized, value-driven offers that target specific consumers as well as guarantee immediate delivery, in-stock merchandise and reasonable returns policies. To do this successfully, they must automate key business processes and employ more granular customer segmentation."

Additional findings include:

• 69% of shoppers expect retailers to provide more personalized offers in addition to good deals and cost savings this year.
• Consumers will forgo shopping with online retailers that do not provide fast delivery (53%), low or moderate prices (52%), customer-friendly returns policies (46%) or exceptional customer service (45%).
• More than half of Gen X and 50% of millennial shoppers are shopping earlier for holiday deals in September and October. Despite the long-standing tradition of door-busting Holiday sales, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are least important to Baby Boomers.