Consumers are celebrating (and shopping for) the holidays like its 2019: report

Holiday cheer is so back, at least according to Deloitte’s 2023 Holiday Retail Survey.

The past few winters have been marked with uncertainty—from the OG Covid year to subsequent variants and travel turmoil. This year, though, holiday participation is expected to be back to pre-pandemic levels, and consumers seem to be willing to spend as they celebrate—with a few caveats.

Deck the halls

From a national sample of more than 4,000 consumers, almost all of them (95%) said they’re planning on shopping for the holidays this year. That’s up from 92% last year and 88% in 2021, and is on par with the share from 2020.

Consumers expect to spend an average of $1,652 this holiday season, passing pre-Covid levels for the first time and up 14% year over year. While slightly more people are planning on participating in holiday spending this year than last, the increase in average spend may also be due to inflation: About three in four (72%) said they’re considering higher prices when making that estimate.

A big portion of spending is expected to happen around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which are also set to experience something of a revival after a dip the last few years, according to Deloitte. More than half (54%) of holiday shoppers plan to make purchases during the week of Thanksgiving, up from 49% last year, 47% in 2021, and 53% in 2020.

It might be the season of giving, but 82% of consumers said they anticipate some purchases to be nongift items, up from 2021 and 2020 and on par with 2020. Three-quarters (75%) said they could even be tempted to buy a gift for themselves. To which we say: Who doesn’t love a little treat?

Reindeer-powered

Brands might want to prioritize their sustainability initiatives over AI efforts this holiday season, at least if they’re hoping to attract young shoppers.

Deloitte classified 43% of holiday shoppers as “sustainable gift shoppers,” up four percentage points from last year. More than half of Gen Z and millennials (55%) said they are sustainable shoppers, a seven-point increase from 2022, and 35% of older generations said the same, a one-point increase from a year ago. Sustainable gift shoppers are big spenders: On average, they spend 29% more than those who don’t shop for sustainable holidays gifts whenever possible, Deloitte found.

Meanwhile, AI doesn’t seem to be much of a priority for holiday shoppers: 79% of consumers said they have little to no trust that retailers can use AI responsibly, and only 16% said they plan to use generative AI for holiday shopping. That share, though, is notably higher among Gen Z (29%) and millennials (32%) than Gen X (12%).