CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, has released its 2022 Holiday Gift Shopping Preview to identify consumer intentions around holiday spend, gifting categories, and retail channels. Finances are the top concern among holiday shoppers, with many concerned about their ability to afford gifts this year in light of rising prices and tighter budgets. Despite these fears, overall spend on gifts is expected to remain on-par with last year, with many shoppers planning to seek out sales and deals to offset rising prices.
Holiday Gift Buying Findings:
- Nearly 3 in 5 holiday shoppers (59%) say they’re worried about their ability to afford gifts this year, and two-thirds (66%) expect inflation to have a moderate or significant impact on their holiday gift shopping.
- 93% of consumers will adjust their gift shopping to account for higher prices. The top adjustments will be seeking out additional promotions & sales (49% of shoppers), purchasing less expensive gifts (43%), purchasing fewer gifts (38%) and purchasing gifts for fewer people (22%).
- How consumers adjust their gift shopping depends on their financial health — those who are financially flexible intend to increase gift budgets or seek out sales, while struggling shoppers expect to reduce the number of gifts purchased or opt for less expensive items.
- Two-thirds of shoppers (64%) have a set budget for holiday gifts. About half of shoppers (51%) expect to spend over $500 on gifts, and 17% will spend over $1000.
- Younger consumers are more likely to increase their holiday spend. More than one-third (36%) of Millennial and Gen Z shoppers say they will spend more on gifts this year than they did last year, citing improved job situations and a desire to splurge as the main drivers. By comparison, 25% of Gen X and 20% of Boomers say they will spend more.
- Inflation is the primary factor for expected spending changes in both directions.
- Among the 26% of shoppers who expect to spend more on gifts this year, the top reason is that they expect gifts will be more expensive (59%), followed by a need to buy more gifts (23%) or a desire to indulge more this year (15%).
- Among the 28% of shoppers who expect to spend less on gifts this year, the top reason is less financial flexibility due to inflation (60%), followed by a need to save money for essentials (44%) and having less discretionary spending money this year (40%).
- Over two-thirds (69%) of shoppers say it’s important for them to purchase holiday gifts that are on sale or to purchase gifts during promotional events.
- The top sale types gift shoppers want to see are flat product discounts (60%), Buy-One-Get-One (BOGO) deals (40%), rewards points (44%) or rebates (37%).
- 82% of shoppers intend to purchase gifts during Thanksgiving weekend holiday sales like Black Friday (56%) and Cyber Monday (56%). Cyber Monday will be a more popular choice for Gen Z and Millennial shoppers (63%) compared to Gen X shoppers (55%) and Boomers (52%).
- Gift buyers are shifting their timelines back slightly this season. Only 43% started their holiday gift shopping before November this year, compared to 48% in 2021.
- Gift cards continue to hold the top spot on the holiday gift list — 60% of shoppers expect to purchase some sort of gift card this holiday season. The most popular gift card choices are Amazon (35%), Target (20%), restaurants (19%), Walmart (18%) and credit card style gift cards (18%).
- A third of gift shoppers (35%) expect to purchase Amazon gift cards specifically, making it the fourth most popular item behind gift cards overall (60%), apparel (47%) and toys & games (46%).
- Experiential gifts like event tickets or travel are the only category shoppers expect to buy more of this holiday season— 17% of gift buyers expect to purchase these types of gifts, up from 14% last year.
- Gift categories with the largest drop in purchase intentions are home goods (-9 points), electronics (-7 points) and small appliances (-5 points) this year versus last.
- Online will be the top location for holiday gift shopping this year. Almost three-quarters (74%) of shoppers plan to buy gifts online this year, followed closely by mass retailers (64%) and department stores (45%).
- Gen Z consumers are more likely to buy gifts from online small businesses (+3 points) compared to other generations, while Boomers are more likely to purchase from department stores (+3 points) or club stores (+3 points).
Numerator’s 2022 Holiday Gifting survey was fielded between 10/25/2022–10/27/2022 to 2,078 consumers.
About Numerator:
Numerator is a data and tech company bringing speed and scale to market research. Numerator blends first-party data from over 1 million US households with advanced technology to provide 360-degree consumer understanding for the market research industry that has been slow to change. Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Numerator has 2,000 employees worldwide; 80 of the top 100 CPG brands’ manufacturers are Numerator clients.
