Consumer Survey Shows Shoppers Pulling Back on Gift Spending

A recently completed survey of more than 1000 U.S. consumers finds that a growing number are cutting their holiday spending to account for inflation. In addition, the survey – done by ecommerce platform Jungle Scout (Austin, Texas) – identified which brick-and-mortar and online retailers are most popular with respondents.

Those results were contained in Jungle Scout’s Consumer Trends Report for the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2022. Three key findings from the survey:

• More than 93 percent of consumers are noticing higher prices in their everyday shopping. As record inflation persists, the majority of American shoppers have adjusted their spending, and a third of those are cutting on holiday expenses.
• Nearly 20 percent of U.S. consumers get holiday gift ideas from social media. Gen Z and Millennial shoppers are more than twice as likely as Gen X and Baby Boomers to buy social media-inspired gifts.
• Consumers will be more focused on financial security in 2023. While family, physical health, and mental health remain top priorities for consumers, their careers and finances are noticeably more important in the coming year.

As to where respondents shop for gifts: The top two physical stores were Walmart (mentioned by 56 percent) and Target (29 percent), while the most popular online shopping destinations were Amazon (67 percent) and Walmart.com (36 percent).

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