How People Spend Their Money After the Holidays — Do You Spend the Same Way?
Written by
J. Arky
Edited by
Amber Barkley
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Time to put away the decorations and sweep up the confetti, because the holiday season is over and done with. As the new year sets in, you might be feeling like you are in a bit of a money daze, perhaps having overspent on the festivities and travel of the last few months.
Don’t worry: You are not alone. Lots of people feel similarly, though that doesn’t mean they have stopped spending money all together. In fact, many are just getting started — or have not slowed down.
Where and how are people spending their money after the holidays?
Post-Holiday Spending
According to a new survey from Coupon Cabin, “over 77% of consumers believe that there are better deals available after the holidays. Furthermore, nearly 51% of consumers plan to take advantage of these deals by making a large purchase immediately following the holidays, in either late December or January.”
Some of that spending is due to exchanges — nearly 60% of shoppers have exchanged a holiday gift to buy themselves something else, Coupon Cabin found, and they exchange 20% of the gifts they receive, including beauty products, jewelry and electronic devices. Of all the exchanges made, clothes were the number one item, likely due to inaccurate sizing or dissatisfaction with the style.
How Much Are People Spending?
For most consumers, purchases made after the holidays ran in the range of $100 to $500, but some people actually spent more. In fact, the survey highlighted that the Midwest region of the U.S. has the biggest spenders, with more reporting spending $5,000 or more.
Where Are They Shopping?
It’s not surprising that where this money typically gets spent is at giant retailers, including Walmart, Costco, Macy’s, Kohl’s and Target, all of which are pushing post-holiday sales and markdowns. Online retailers are still strong at the start of the new year, while it seems that furniture stores got bumped to the bottom of the list for spending priority.
What comes as no surprise is that Americans love to shop and spend money at their favorite stores, regardless of whether it is the holiday season or not.
Spending Gift Cards
For anyone who found a gift card in their stocking or cash waiting for them under the tree, the willpower to wait and spend those presents was split. Over 50% of those consumers surveyed noted that they spend monetary gifts within weeks of the holidays, while the rest wait and spend the money later.
American shoppers in the Northeast were more likely to spend gift cards or cash immediately, while those in the Midwest and Southwest were more likely to hold onto them.
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