Holiday shoppers expected to spend big
They will pay out an average $1,007, retail federation predicts.
While online sales continue to be more popular, experts say that won’t keep holiday shoppers from hitting the brick and mortar stores this season, which is expected to see some of the highest sales volumes in recent memory.
Shoppers plan to spend an average $1,007 during this holiday season, up 4.1 percent from the $967 they said they would spend last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
“Increased holiday spending is likely another indicator of our strong economy and continued economic recovery,” said Miami University economics professor Michael Lipsitz. “While wage growth is still slow, the percentage of our population that is working is as high as it’s been since the recession, and having a job means you can afford to spend
more on gifts.”
Eaton resident Ashley Othersen is one of many Americans who has higher optimism amid low unemployment and higher take-home wages. Othersen’s husband recently received a promotion, moving from an hourly employee to salary.
While Othersen isn’t a big spender, she said her few hundred dollars in purchases will increase at least a little this year because of her husband’s increased income.
“Their company is booming; they’re hiring like crazy,” she said. “He’s got job security. There’s too much work to be laid off.”
Consumer spending has risen every year since 2002 except 2008, Miami University professor William Even said, and the increase is above the rate of inflation that sat at 2.1 percent in the first half of 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“This is generally good news for the economy as it means there will be more demand for consumer goods that will create more jobs, though many of these new jobs will be temporary,” Even said.
Holiday hiring started earlier than average this year as low unemployment resulted in fewer people to fill the increasing number of seasonal jobs. And while the growth in online shopping created a need for more logistics, distribution and delivery workers, more employees are also needed to handle in-store sales.
The same number of consumers said they would shop online as in department stores, many of which are struggling as consumer shopping habits change. About 55 percent said they would shop at the two channels, with an additional 51 percent saying they’d hit discount stores and 33 percent planning to shop at clothing stores.
“The only time I buy anything online is if it’s not in the store,” Othersen said. “I like to see it, feel it.”
Eaton resident Michelle Upton, who will spend a minimum $1,000 after she also starts shopping on Black Friday, has 14 grandchildren to buy for, in addition to the rest of her family and gift exchanges. She also prefers to shop in-store to know exactly what she’s getting.
But there are some benefits to shopping around online, including being able to compare products easier than traveling from store to store, said 17-year-old Aaron Brown.
“I tend to shop online mostly just because I tend to have more of a knowledge of what I want to get. There’s more variety than what you can typically find in stores,” he said.
While shopping, both online and in-store, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Chris Kershner said consumers should consider more than just price.
“Keep in mind the local impact that local spend will have,” he said. “When you do your holiday shopping with local companies, that money stays local; it helps support our friends and neighbors and families that we all cross paths with every day. It helps support our local school systems and local retailers.”