Consumers will be approaching holiday gift-giving with more restraint than last year.<\/p>\n
According to the latest Holiday Spending Survey from The Conference Board<\/a>, the average consumer plans to spend about $990 on holiday-related purchases. This figure represents a 6.9% decrease from $1,063 in 2024 and is close to holiday spending plans from 2023. <\/p>\n The decline is particularly noticeable in both gift budgets, which fell 3.9% to $650, and non-gift items such as food and decorations, which dropped by 12% to $340. After adjusting for inflation, these figures are at multiyear lows, according to a press release<\/a> issued Tuesday (Nov. 11).\u200b<\/p>\n \u201cSeveral years of relatively high inflation have raised price levels and squeezed consumers\u2019 wallets,\u201d commented Conference Board Senior Economist of Global Indicators Stephanie Guichard<\/a> in the release.<\/p>\n What\u2019s interesting to note is that younger and wealthier consumers are cutting back the most on holiday spending. Contrast that with those over 65 and households earning under $50,000 expecting to slightly increase their spending compared to last year. <\/p>\n Per the release, online shopping remains a popular channel for holiday purchases, with 43% of consumers expecting to buy at least half of their gifts online. This remains unchanged from the previous year. <\/p>\n Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p>\n What gifts will be in demand? Conference Board data indicates that product preferences show a rise in buying toys and games, travel packages and gift cards. Less favored compared to last year are books, music, DVDs, tools and sporting goods.<\/p>\n And when it comes to holiday travel expenditures, only about 30% of consumers plan to travel during the season, the press release said. This is a slight decline from 2024 and indicates more people plan to either stay home or close to home for festivities.\u200b<\/p>\n Additionally, consumers are highly price-conscious about new tariffs being imposed on imported goods, with many intending to either buy fewer items or seek out discounts or promotions if prices are inflated by tariffs.\u200b<\/p>\n