Feeling the gift-giving pressure
Great expectations confront both retailers and shoppers during the holiday season. That has some feeling the pressure to not only buy the right gifts but buy more gifts.
“I think the numbers are certainly going to be up,” says RetailMeNot.com’s Sara Skirboll. “Traditionally speaking, people still like to go into stores and shop, they like to do a lot of gift giving.”
The National Retail Federation expects, on average, consumers will spend more than $1,000 shopping this season, mostly on gifts.
What wasn’t expected is the number of people feeling pressured to spend even more than they’ve budgeted.
A recent BankRate.com survey found nearly half of all Americans feel pressured to spend more on gifts this year.
Men are more likely than women to overspend, as are millennials and Gen X-ers over older Americans.
Lower-income consumers will spend much more percentage-wise than the middle-income crowd.
“There will be a lot of spending, not all of it as we know will be wise spending, so there will be some regret come January 1,” says BankRate.com’s Adrian Garcia.
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