November 16, 2020

Report: 1 in 4 Americans Will Spend Less This Holiday Season Than Last Year

The U.S. Presidential election, stimulus checks, and Amazon are driving forces in American consumer spending in 2020, Jungle Scout’s quarterly report reveals.

AUSTIN, Texas — November 16, 2020: Today, Jungle Scout, the leading all-in-one platform for selling on Amazon, released a new report exploring how U.S. consumers’ spending has changed in 2020, and how many Americans are cutting back holiday spending due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Presidential election results, and more.

Jungle Scout’s Q4 Consumer Trends Report key insights include:

  • The critical end-of-year shopping season is more precarious than ever.
      • 1 in 4 Americans will spend less on holiday shopping this year than they spent in 2019.
      • 32% of Donald Trump-voting consumers will reduce holiday spending because Joe Biden won the U.S. Presidential election.
      • 23% of Americans plan to reduce their 2020 holiday spending in the absence of a stimulus check.
  • Half of consumers have reduced their overall spending.
      • 46% of consumers say their overall spending decreased further throughout Q3 (July-September) after already reducing spending in the first half of 2020.
      • 1 in 3 Americans will decrease overall spending through the end of the year.
  • Ecommerce is surging during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic — and Amazon is dominating.
    • 34% of consumers increased their online spending in Q3 (even while reducing overall spending). 
    • 70% of consumers shopped on Amazon in Q3 — compared to 35% who shopped on Walmart.com and 26% on Target.com.
    • 69% of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday — but the majority will shop online instead of in stores. 

“This time of year is normally a boon to retailers as consumers spend on gifts, celebrations, and other splurges — but 2020 is not a normal year,” said Jungle Scout Founder & CEO Greg Mercer. “Americans are uncertain about the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a change in political leadership. Will they keep their jobs? Get a stimulus check? Consumers are responding by tightening their wallets, and when they do spend, they shop online from the safety of their homes, leaving some retailers in a good spot this season, and others worried.”

About the Report

Jungle Scout’s Q4 Consumer Trends Report is a quarterly study of 1,000 U.S. consumers which explores how spending behaviors and preferences change over time and due to current events. The survey ran from October 1-2, 2020, and assessed consumer behaviors from Q3 (July-September 2020) and projections for Q4 (October-December 2020).