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Holiday Shopping Could Hit A Trillion Dollars
Ho… Ho… How much?! // Image by Kait Cunniff with DALL-E
The National Retail Federation forecasts that holiday spending in the US will hit a record of $1 trillion or more this year.
Why It Hits: The economic vibes aren’t great for most Americans. With persistent inflation, stagnant wages, and tariff anxiety making things more expensive, consumer confidence has fallen to an almost 50-year low. Still, that hasn’t dampened the holiday spirit — proving that gift giving remains as essential a budget line item as paying the rent.
Behind The Purchases: Better start getting your Christmas gifts now.
NRF estimates that total spending will increase between 3.7% and 4.2% from last year.
The average consumer will spend about $890 on gifts, food, and other holiday decor — the second-highest amount in 23 years.
Brands already started releasing holiday deals last month — what NRF called “holiday creep” — to begin juicing those numbers.
And retailers will be hiring big time to meet demand, bringing on between 265,000 and 365,000 workers for the seasonal rush.
Checkout: Here’s an interesting wrinkle in the wrapping paper — the bottom end of the NRF’s forecast would mark the lowest year-over-year sales growth in six years. That means the belt-tightening is in full swing. And while people are still saving for and buying gifts, they’re leaning toward more price-conscious brands and maybe a present or two less under the tree.
Next Season: Keep an eye on those BNPL purchases… we could be looking at one of the biggest waves of pay-in-four loan defaults this coming spring.
PARTNERSHIPS | COMMUNITY | PODCAST | FRIENDS
Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.