Pandemic Presents New Hurdles For Consumer Holiday Spending

As it presents possible hurdles for an economy that heavily depends on their amenability to purchase, COVID-19 is making new challenges for the 2020 holiday spending by American consumers.

People living together encounter the potentiality of Halloween sans trick or treaters, Black Friday sans large gatherings of people, Thanksgiving sans family trips and December sans social gatherings in addition to offline gift-giving, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Furthermore, a competitive presidential election campaign and a standoff in Congress regarding new monetary assistance for millions of unemployed are possible softeners on 2020’s festiveness.

Many economists are forecasting small or no growth in 2020 in contrast to last year.

Joe Brusuelas, RSM chief economist, foresees retail sales to rise only 0.5 percent in the holiday season, which is partially due to the fact that Congress has not ratified a new stimulus package.

Approximately 20 percent of yearly American retail sales annually are comprised of holiday sales per the National Retail Federation.

And, to restrict large gatherings in retail locations and relax pressure on supply chains, merchants are seeking an earlier beginning to the holidays.

But, as consumers got ready for additional months of remote work and education, spending on items has been a positive occurrence for the economy in recent times.

New PYMNTS data analytics, however, do not illustrate a picture of a consumer who is ready to power a full turnaround for this year’s holiday season.

In fact, the data indicates a cautious population living paycheck to paycheck, ready to spend conservatively over the season and moving toward payment mechanisms that reflect that ethos.

Among the nearly 2,860 consumers polled for the PYMNTS holiday spending scenario report, 63.3 percent indicated they were living paycheck to paycheck. Of that group, 26 percent indicated that they were experiencing difficulty paying bills.

The remaining 37.3 percent said they were living paycheck to paycheck, but they were comfortably paying bills.