Despite Inflation, Consumer Spending to Remain Strong This Holiday Season, According to New Pitney Bowes Data
September 26 2023 - 9:06AM
Business Wire
Pitney Bowes’ latest BOXpoll survey finds that
80% will buy online more or the same as last year.
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a global shipping and mailing
company that provides technology, logistics, and financial
services, today released new consumer data from its BOXpoll survey
revealing key peak season trends and insights to help retailers
prepare to meet consumer preferences and demand. The findings
reveal that despite conflicting economic indicators, consumers say
they’ll buy online more or the same as last year—supported by
trends in growing consumer spending and credit card balances this
year.
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BOXpoll Survey: Are Consumers Shopping
More or Less this Holiday Season? (Graphic: Business Wire)
“While U.S. consumers grapple with economic challenges including
the lingering impacts of inflation, their discretionary
spending—particularly online—appears to defy gravity headed into
the holidays,” said Vijay Ramachandran, VP of GTM (Go-to-Market)
Enablement + Experience at Pitney Bowes. “Online sales so far this
year are up more than 7% versus 2022, even though online prices
have been on a deflationary trend for more than a year.”
American consumers are holding up better than
expected.
According to the latest BOXpoll survey conducted in
September:
- 32% of consumers plan to shop online more than last year, 48%
plan to spend the same amount, and only 20% plan to spend
less—figures which are consistent with last year’s findings.
- Among the 20% of consumers planning to spend less online,
slightly more than half are cutting back on overall (i.e.,
non-holiday) spending—a significant reduction from the 71% who
expected to be cutting back last year.
- Gen Z and Millennials are even less likely to curtail online
spending, with 22% and 18% year-over-year declines, respectively,
among those age groups saying they were to say they plan to spend
less online versus last year.
“These survey results reflect what we’re seeing in the market
and with our own clients: Consumers are having a hard time letting
go of COVID-era shopping habits—and rather than curtail overall
spending, they’re ‘trading down’ to lower-priced brands and
lower-value product categories as they seek to make their budgets
go farther in reaction to perceived inflation. Retailer earnings
from Q2 saw mid-priced and discount brands reporting stellar
quarterly results at the expense of more premium brands and
department stores. We know from consulting with our clients that
mid-price apparel, as well as accessories and beauty brands, are
optimistic about the holiday season, while sporting goods and home
décor brands are approaching peak more cautiously,” added
Ramachandran.
Consumers will do what it takes to earn free
shipping.
- To further examine how consumer shopping behaviors have evolved
in recent months, Pitney Bowes asked BOXpoll survey respondents if
they have noticed it has become harder to quality for free
shipping, and 39% agreed.
- In addition, 42% of consumers already expect it will become
harder to qualify for free shipping this holiday season compared to
last year. The results also revealed consumers are most likely to
either add more items to their cart to qualify for free shipping
(44%) or try to find the same item with a different online brand
that will offer free shipping (37%).
Pitney Bowes’ data also shows that these trends in consumer
behavior are coming amidst retailer challenges including
difficulties with comparing carrier cost structures,
differentiating customer tracking experiences, managing returns
fraud, and finding cross-border shipping partners who can handle
both compliance and logistics.
Retailers can visit www.pitneybowes.com/boxpoll for additional
guidance and BOXpoll findings ahead of this peak season.
Methodology
The BOXpoll® consumer survey by Pitney Bowes is a weekly
consumer survey on current events, culture and ecommerce logistics.
Morning Consult conducts weekly polls on behalf of Pitney Bowes
among a national sample of more than 2,000 online shoppers. The
results included in this press release are extracted from surveys
conducted over the past month. The interviews were conducted
online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample
of adults based on age, educational attainment, gender, race, and
region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of +/-
2 percentage points. Visit www.pitneybowes.com/boxpoll for the
latest BOXpoll findings.
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global shipping and mailing company
that provides technology, logistics, and financial services to more
than 90 percent of the Fortune 500. Small business, retail,
enterprise, and government clients around the world rely on Pitney
Bowes to reduce the complexity of sending mail and parcels. For the
latest news, corporate announcements and financial results visit
https://www.pitneybowes.com/us/newsroom.html. For additional
information visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com.
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Marifer Rodriguez Pitney Bowes W 203 351 7416 M 203 940 3718
marifer.rodriguez@pb.com
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