Americans are more likely to spend less than more this holiday season, according to our survey
- Black Friday is almost here, which means the holiday shopping season is about to begin.
- Business Insider teamed with global technology company Morning Consult to conduct a nationwide survey of American shopping habits during the holiday season.
- We analyzed responses from more than 2,300 adults across household income brackets, political ideologies, gender, race, and age to learn more about consumer sentiments around shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- We learned how many respondents were planning to spend more than, less than, or the same amount as they did last year on holiday shopping - and why. Here's the breakdown.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Many Americans plan to spend less this holiday season, and they say it's either because they want to save money or the cost of necessities has increased.
Business Insider partnered with global technology company Morning Consult to conduct a survey on Americans' holiday shopping habits for 2019. Over 2,300 adults were surveyed, including participants across age and income brackets, race and gender identities, and the political spectrum.
Just over 50% of those surveyed said that they planned to spend the same amount of money on holiday shopping as they spent last year. 28.3% of those surveyed said they planned to spend less, while just 13.1% said they planned to spend more.
Holiday spending habits also differed across the political spectrum. Shoppers who identified as liberal were significantly more likely to say that they planned to spend less, while shoppers who identified as moderate or conservative were significantly more likely to report no planned change in their spending habits. Moderate or conservative respondents were marginally more likely to say they planned to spend more this year.
Of the 13.1% of Americans surveyed who said they planned to spend more, half attributed their increased spending to higher income.
Other major reasons included plans to give more gifts to family and friends, the perceived availability of better deals, and confidence in the economy.
Of the 28.3% of Americans surveyed who said they planned to spend less this holiday season, 49% attributed their spending decrease to trying to save money.
Other major reasons for spending less included paying off debt, a perceived increase in the cost of necessities, and a stagnation of or decrease in income.
Compared to respondents who said they planned to spend more, respondents who said they planned to spend less were less likely to cite stock investments or the state of the economy as reasons for their decrease in spending.
