Buyers of the Walmart SuperCentry in Burbank during the annual shopping event of several weeks of Walmart in Burbank on Thursday, November 21, 2024.
Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty images
Holiday buyers expect to cut the tree and their expenses this coming season, according to a survey by the PWC consulting firm.
In generations, consumers said they planned to spend an average of $ 1,552 on vacation gifts, travel and entertainment – which represents a 5% drop in the average vacation spending planned during the previous period.
However, the strongest decline comes from generation Z, which the members said they planned to spend 23% less on average than a year ago. It is the greatest drop in any generation and a significant swing compared to last year when they said they expected to spend 37% more. Their decline also contributes to the overall decrease in vacation spending.
“The price is the language of love of Gen Z,” said Ali Furman, the leader in the American consumer market industry for PwC. “They were raised at a time of rising costs. They are focused on the value and transparency of costs. For them, dupes are not a demograd. They are proof of smart purchases.”
For retailers, Gen Z customers – who extend from 13 to 29 years and have an average age of 22 years – are both an opportunity and a challenge, said Furman. As they enter adulthood, they tend to have smaller wages, new expenses and debt to be reimbursed, she said. In addition, she said, they focus on experience, often prioritizing concert tickets, hotel stays and plane trips on the purchase of new items, and they feel pinch because these experiences cost more.
“Entertainment and holidays take more from their wallet than they have done, and so they have less to go on vacation,” said Furman.
It was also difficult for retailers to follow young buyers, who “are the fastest generation to adopt trends and abandon trends,” she said.
For retailers, the results of the survey highlight the uncertain backdrop for a holiday season which could be shaped, at least in part, by sensitivity to prices while companies debate the quantity to absorb and to transmit higher price costs.
According to the PWC survey, which included a sample of PWC, which included a representative sample of 4,000 American consumers and was led a year ago – with the exception of baby boomers, who plan to spend 5% more on average.
Consumers who have already tired of the increase in the cost of living, such as higher public service bills, are also wary of the potential increases in higher prices, said Furman. This has made buyers pay particular attention to price labels and have intensified their determination to delay or buy early to get the best offer, she said.
“It is not necessarily the prices themselves that conduct feeling and behavior,” she said. “This is the threat that prices can increase, and people have a conscience around it.”