2022 Holiday Shopping & Inflation – Report
According to U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, the 2022 inflation rate in America reached 7.7% over the past 12 months – the highest in 40 years. Americans have had to pay significantly higher prices on food, gas, housing and most other consumer categories this year.
Inflation has exploded this year on the heels of COVID-19 when 80% of consumers in America shopped more online due to COVID-19 as per data from our reports on 2020 and 2021 holiday shopping seasons.
To find out how holiday shopping will change in 2022 due to inflation, we surveyed 1100 American consumers and organized critical data in this report. The data below will highlight impeding ramifications on the 2022 holiday shopping season in the United States and what retailers, consumers and reporters should expect.
You can skip to detailed section data by clicking on one of the buttons below or skipping to survey end for demographic composition.
KEY FINDINGS
Inflation & Holiday Season Spending
48.2% of consumers will spend less money due to inflation during holiday shopping season in 2022.
Average Projected Holiday Spending Year Over Year
Americans, on average, plan to spend a total of $941 during holiday shopping season in 2022. This represents a 3.4% decrease compared to 2021 ($974).
Biggest Concerns Ahead Of Holiday Shopping Season
Inflation is the number one concern among American consumers (56.4%) about the holiday shopping season in 2022. Availability of funds is the number two concern with 46.4% consumers being worried of not having enough disposable income to do their holiday shopping. Other concerns among consumers in the United States are in stock availability of items (41.8%), shipping times (30.9%) and COVID-19 (31.3%)
Black Friday, Cyber Monday & Small Business Saturday
61.8% of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday in 2022.
51.4% of consumers plan to shop and support local stores during Small Business Saturday.
Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto & Voice Search
27.3% plan to use buy now pay later to finance their purchases during 2022 holiday shopping season.
18.2% plan to use crypto as a payment method online during 2022 holiday shopping season.
30% plan to use voice search while shopping online during 2022 holiday shopping season.
Sources Of New Product Recommendations
59.1% of consumers will follow new products recommendations from friends & family while 52.7% will follow new product recommendations from social media. Other popular sources of new product recommendations mentioned were Google (46.4%) and Youtube (33.6%).
INFLATION
Inflation & Holiday Season Spending ($)
48.2% of consumers will spend less ($) during holiday shopping season during holiday shopping season while 20.9% will spend more ($) and 16.4% will spend same ($) as last year.
Availability Of Funds Concern
48.2% more Americans are concerned about availability of funds for 2022 holiday shopping season compared to 2021.
Increased Costs Due To Inflation
88.2% of American consumers spent more money on food due to inflation in 2022, while 71% spent more on gas and 49% spent more on utilities.
Retail Categories Most Affected By Inflation
Categories that will see less consumer spending due to inflation are gifts (49.1%), electronics (39.1%), clothing & apparel (32.7%), food (30%) and beauty (27.3%).
Increased Use Of Buy Now Pay Later
As inflation increased spending of vast majority in the US, 27.3% percent of American consumers plan to use Buy Now Pay Later option during 2022 holiday season versus 13.7% in 2021 which represents a 99.3% increase year over year.
ONLINE VS. IN-STORE
Online
94.5% of consumers plan to shop online during the 2022 holiday shopping season.
In-store
73.6% of consumers plan to shop in-store during the 2022 holiday shopping season.
On average, consumers plan to spend $483 online during the 2022 holiday shopping season.
94.2% of consumers who plan to shop online expect to spend most of their 2022 holiday shopping budgets at Amazon. Walmart.com is a distant second at 31.7%.
FREE SHIPPING
Free shipping is the most preferred shipping method by 92.3% of consumers.
On average, consumers plan to spend $458 in-store during the 2022 holiday shopping season.
51.8% of consumers who plan to shop in-store expect to spend most of their 2022 holiday shopping budgets at Walmart. Target is a close second at 49.4%.
STORE PICKUP
26.9% of consumers prefer to pick up their orders in-store while 12.5% prefer to pick up curbside.
More Retail Traffic
As COVID-19 became less of a concern in 2022, 73.6% percent of American consumers plan to shop in-store during 2022 holiday season versus 54.7% in 2021 which represents a 34.5% increase year over year.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY & DEMOGRAPHICS
For the purpose of this study, we surveyed 1100 US consumers to find out how they are planning to shop during this year’s holiday shopping season. The survey was conducted through SurveyMonkey services.
The demographic composition of the 1100 individuals surveyed is as follows.