Americans may turn out to be conflicted about how they spend their money this holiday season, a study from Affirm suggests.
It’s not that consumers are going to pull back on spending across the board, as 48% said they plan to spend more money on the holidays this year, often prompted by their inability to celebrate normally in the 2020 season.
In terms of how they will dole out their cash, 54% of respondents to the Affirm survey said they plan to spend more this year on experiences, such as traveling or attending and hosting parties, over physical gifts to make this holiday season special. The top gift respondents said they plan to give their loved ones is a memorable experience, at 42%, such as tickets to a concert or sporting event, followed by electronics, at 29%, a vacation, at 26%, or clothing, at 25%. The top gift respondents hoped to receive was a vacation, Affirm noted.
Still, other recent research has suggested that at least some consumers have been readopting behaviours they engaged in during the height of the pandemic. As such, the shift in spending toward experiences reported in the survey, conducted during August, may be mitigated given consumer health concerns and regulations adopted by government agencies and even private businesses, such as malls, music venues, requiring vaccinations, COVID-19 tests and/or masks.
Affirm pointed out that more than half of Americans have expressed anxiety over holiday shopping. To help ease holiday financial pressures, many consumers are getting a head start on their holiday shopping with the majority, 61%, saying they no longer wait for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to start seasonal purchasing. One in five started their shopping in September, with 23% explaining that it’s because they want to budget better.
“In addition to getting a head start on their holiday shopping, consumers are taking advantage of flexible payment solutions to help them spend responsibly this year. Over half of Americans are interested in using a pay-over-time solution for their holiday shopping this year and the majority, 69%, will do so because they believe it helps them to better budget,” said Silvija Martincevic, Affirm chief commercial officer, in introducing the report.
