Money Matters - 2024 Early Holiday Shopping Survey

With Columbus Day Sales just around the corner, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its 2024 Early Holiday Shopping Survey, offering a glimpse into how consumers are planning their holiday purchases. You can find highlights from the survey below.

Key Findings:

• Leftovers From Last Year: 46% of Americans are still paying off debt from last holiday season.
   
• Early Shoppers: 47% of people say they usually start shopping for the holidays in October or earlier.

• Motivations for Starting Early: Lower prices (38%) and more time to enjoy the holidays (31%) are the two biggest motivators for people starting their holiday shopping early.
   
• Holiday Budgets: More than 9 in 10 Americans have a holiday budget.
   
• Debt-Avoidance Strategies: 42% of people use strict budgeting as a strategy for avoiding holiday debt, while 22% spread out their purchases over several months, and 21% use only cash or debit cards.
   
• Untrustworthy Google Results: More than 1 in 3 people don’t trust Google to show the best holiday deals at the top of their search results.
  
   

“The holiday season can be a stressful time, both financially and otherwise. Starting to shop for the holidays early can make things easier, though, and 47% of people say they kick things off in October or earlier, according to a new WalletHub survey. Around one-third of people cite lower prices and more time to enjoy the holidays as their main motivators for starting early, and 22% of people say that spreading out purchases across several months helps them avoid holiday debt. Holiday debt can sour the festivities almost as quickly as a lump of coal in your stocking, yet 46% of people are still working to get out from under last year’s spending. Fortunately, more than 90% of people say they have a holiday budget this year, so there should be less of a holiday hangover this time around.”

- Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst
 


 
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