How much are Americans planning to spend this holiday shopping season – and how likely are they to overspend? Who's making a budget – and who's sticking to it? These are the kinds of questions we asked in our 2017 Merry Money Holiday Spending Survey. The results may surprise you.
- Shoppers plan to spend at least $500 this holiday season. Nearly 8 in 10 consumers (76 percent) admit to overspending in the past – an average of $263. Among the top reasons for excessive spending, consumers listed spending more on gifts than expected (71 percent) and buying gifts that were not on the original list (57 percent).
- Experience-driven millennials far overspend their budget (72 percent) on holiday-related events compared to members of Generation X (24 percent) and baby boomers (18 percent). But amidst this holiday overindulgence, this younger generation does have some frugal habits. Most millennials (65 percent) create a holiday budget, in comparison to 56 percent of Gen Xers and 35 percent of baby boomers.
- More than half of respondents admitted to previously re-gifting a present (56 percent), noting that the top reasons for re-gifting include thinking that someone else would like it more (65 percent) as well as disliking the gift (40 percent).
Download a report of the survey findings and view infographics below.
Tap on image above to download the survey findings report in PDF
(Click here to download text-only results)
Tap on image above to download the survey infographic in PDF