The last quarter of the year is normally the golden season for retailers, regardless if they are e-com pure players, brick and mortar, or multichannel. However, a report from research company Statista clearly indicates that rising inflation and cost of living has caused a noticeable rise in the share of consumers who said they are going to reduce their spending this Christmas season.

When asked how much they planned to spend on Christmas gifts this year, a majority of consumers in the US, UK and Germany gave quite humble estimates. In the US, the share of those who were planning to spend more than 100 USD did not exceed 40 percent. In the UK, only one in five consumers was ready to allocate 100 British pounds. Similarly, between 25 and 50 EUR was the most common budget range given by respondents from Germany.

Trying economic times like these create savvy consumers. Black Friday – the primarily American shopping event that starts right after Thanksgiving and marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season – offers cost-conscious consumers an opportunity to get more value from their holiday season shopping. When asked if they were going to take advantage of Black Friday sales this holiday season, on average 43 percent of global consumers said they were likely to do so. However, Northern European and Scandinavian consumers were not as enthusiastic about making Black Friday sales part of their holiday shopping as compared to Spanish and US consumers.

Olof Källgren, Market Information Manager, Direct Link