It’s not even fall yet, but a lot of Americans aren’t letting that stop them from getting a headstart on their holiday shopping. According to a new survey from Bankrate, 79% of Americans plan to shop for the holidays this year and a lot of them aren’t wasting any time.
The survey reveals:
- While 12% of holiday shoppers begin buying gifts before the end of August, another 12% start in September and 26% begin shopping in October. That means half of all those who buy holiday presents do it before Halloween.
- Black Friday is usually the kickoff of the holiday shopping season and 37% of people do wait to start until November, but only 13% hold off on gift buying until December. This year may be a little different, as 40% say they feel financially burdened.
- A quarter are stressed about the cost of holiday shopping, while 23% say it will strain their budgets and 13% expect they’ll feel pressured to spend more money than they’re comfortable doing.
- A lot of folks will be counting on their credit cards, with 53% saying they plan to pay for at least some of their holiday shopping on a credit card. But 64% of them expect to have the balance paid off before interest accrues.
- A third of Americans say inflation will change the way they shop in 2023.
- As for where they’ll be shopping, 39% plan to do most of theirs online, while 23% plan to do most of theirs in person.
- People are looking for ways to save on holiday shopping, with 87% planning to use at least one money-saving strategy, including buying less stuff (42%), searching for coupons, discounts or deals (41%) and starting to shop sooner (30%).
Source: Bankrate