South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Will higher food costs cut into holiday gift shopping?
WINTER PARK — Elena Bean is getting into the holiday spirit and she’s noticed retailers are offering bargains for savvy shoppers.
“No matter what, everyone wants a good deal,” Bean said.
Bean, 35, of Orlando, was at Winter Park kids’ clothing and toy store tugboat & the bird picking up Christmas pajamas for her 8- and
6-year-old daughters. She had also picked up pickle ball-themed pajamas as a gift for her mom at a nearby Park Avenue retailer.
“I’m obsessed with the holidays and part of getting in the Christmas spirit for us is ... Christmas [pajamas],” Bean said.
Holiday shopping is expected to be up this year, but not enough to keep up with the nation’s soaring inflation rate.
That will put Americans on the hunt for bargains, possibly forcing them to balance paying for gifts along with a more costly holiday meal.
The Conference Board, a nonprofit business research group, found in its holiday spending survey that people plan to spend $613 on average for gifts, down from
$648 last year. But shoppers were expecting to spend more on non-gift items like food — $393 this year over
$374 last year. “Consumers appear to be rebalancing their budgets and priorities by reducing their gift-giving circles to help offset the higher costs of non-gift items, in particular food,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, in a news release. “Given this challenging landscape, retailers have already begun countering by offering shoppers earlier than usual discounts, sales, and incentives.”
The National Retail Federation revealed Thursday it expects retail sales in November and December will grow between 6% and 8% over a record 2021 to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. The Consumer Price Index in September ticked slightly higher to 8.2% compared with the last year.
“Consumers are looking for discounts,” said Matthew Shay, CEO of the National Retail Federation. “They’re looking for deals, for value to stretch their dollars in the face of higher energy prices, housing prices.”
Shoppers are tapping into savings and using credit, Shay said. A strong labor market might also be helping to offset some of the inflation, as wages and salaries went up 5.1% for the year ending in September, federal data shows.
But not all expectations this season are without tradeoffs.
Supermarket News reported 71% of people who responded to a FMI-The Food Industry Association survey said they were planning to change their shopping for holiday meals.
That survey showed
28% are looking for deals,
21% are buying more store brands, 17% are substituting ingredients, and another
17% will share the cooking. Grocery store prices have increased 13% for the year ending in September, according to the Consumer Price Index.
Even so, Karla Perry, 52, of Orlando, was shopping at the Goodwill store on Orange Blossom Trail near Florida Mall on Thursday. She said is always looking for a deal but doesn’t plan to change her Christmas plans.
“I think everybody looks for a good bargain more now just because of the cost of goods,” Perry said. “We’re still not going to stop. We’re still going to have the family over, and we’re still going to feed them.”
Perry has four grandchildren and is an early shopper who is almost done with all her Christmas gifts.
Goodwill could be a good spot for those looking to save some money on gifts, decorations or holiday apparel.
“With that inflation affecting their spending ... you can get more for your money here at Goodwill,” said Kim Praniewicz, vice president of marketing and communications for Goodwill Industries of Central Florida. “For your gift shopping, you can buy something at 40% or 50% of the price that you would buy at a big box store.”
Some Orlando retailers are expecting a positive shopping season.
“I feel like sales have remained pretty strong this year, and I don’t really see that changing,” said Laura Haftel, owner of tugboat & the bird. ”It’s a kids’ store, and we’ve got Christmas coming up.”
Colonial Photo & Hobby in Orlando’s Mills 50 neighborhood isn’t facing the same supply chain woes it did last year, but some cameras are still hard to get, said owner Steve Rausch. Last October the store only had about half of the train sets it needed for the holiday shopping season.
“Personally, I think everybody’s going to get a Christmas gift,” Rausch said. “Some people are hurting, which will [mean] smaller gifts, but they can always make gifts.”
And making children happy is what’s important this holiday season.
Arielle Sheinman, 33, of Winter Park, started shopping for her 1-yearold daughter’s Hanukkah gifts in October, including at tugboat & the bird. She started early “because it’s the first year I think she’ll understand.
“It’s more fun,” Sheinman said. “Our plan is to just celebrate the way we usually do with our family.”