As we enter the major holiday season… think Halloween, Thanksgiving (U.S.), and winter holidays, the one question on peoples’ minds: what are consumer spending on this year?
In this blog we will discuss what consumers will be spending on this Halloween.
Also – check out our October webinar, where we discussed consumer and holiday spending, for more details on holidays other than Halloween.
Spending Habits This Halloween
In an annual Halloween Consumer survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, 73 percent of the respondents plan to celebrate Halloween this year, which is up from 69 percent last year.
The Halloween Consumer survey asked 8,084 consumers about their shopping plans. It was conducted September 1st-6th and as NRF notes, has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
Also, in that NRF survey, it shows planned spending per person to be $108.24 for Halloween this year. It will be interesting to see what that actual number is once Halloween ends, and those numbers are crunched, and the data is compiled.
Total planned spending for Halloween 2023 is $12.2 billion dollars. Of that total – some of the top Halloween goods consumers are planning to spend their money on are costumes, candy, decorations, and greeting cards.
Factors That Are Impacting Current Consumer Spending
Consumers are still spending, but some of the spending patterns have differed than what they were like during the pandemic.
In a survey conducted by McKinsey ConsumerWise Global Sentiment Data, showed restaurants, groceries, and travel as the top three categories that respondents intend to splurge on this year.
The bottom three categories were fitness, household essentials, and vehicles. Consumers are putting more value on experiences and essential items (ie: groceries) versus more material items (ie: jewelry/accessories).
This survey by McKinsey was conducted on August 4th-10th and surveyed 4,000 people.
Looking at factors that play a part in what consumers spend their money on, is interest rates which have skyrocketed throughout the last year and a half.
Another factor is the student-loan payments that restarted on October 1st, which will certainly have an impact on what consumers decide to spend their money on.
Morgan Stanley conducted a survey where 37 percent of respondents said student loan payments would force them to cut their spending in other areas, and 34 percent said they wouldn’t be able to make the payments at all.
Looking Ahead
With consumers facing several obstacles or challenges in the present day and remainder of this year, some say that spending will slow down.
Stay tune in the coming months as we will analyze consumer spending during the Thanksgiving holiday and throughout the winter holidays.
Should you have any questions regarding this and how it could impact your shipments, please reach out to our team today.
Additionally, we have our weekly market updates that can provide you with relevant freight news, updates, developments across the industry, and more.