Consumer plans for online holiday shopping this year look promising for e-commerce retailers.
According to the recent eBay Ads Annual Holiday Survey of 2,000 online shoppers and 1,500 eBay shoppers in the U.S., seven in 10 surveyed online shoppers (71%) said they plan to spend the same or more during the 2022 holiday season than they did the prior year. Surveyed eBay shoppers showed a similar trend, with 68% planning to spend the same or more on their holiday purchases compared to 2021.
Younger consumers are much less likely to spend more online during the upcoming holiday season than they did in 2021. While more than half of surveyed Gen Z online shoppers (55%) plan to spend more this holiday season than they did last year, only 39% of surveyed millennial shoppers intend to do the same.
Despite these plans, eight in 10 (81%) surveyed online shoppers still consider a getting a good deal as their top holiday e-commerce priority. More than six in 10 (63%) surveyed online shoppers report they are likely to purchase a sponsored (promoted) item during the holiday season.
eBay also released some data specific to surveyed eBay shoppers:
“Talk about a huge jump in adoption over the course of one year,” eBay said in a corporate blog post. “It is safe to say e-commerce is here to stay.”
Mastercard: Holiday sales look happy for retailers
The recent Mastercard SpendingPulse annual holiday forecast confirms some of eBay’s findings. The forecast indicates that during the upcoming 2022 holiday season, U.S. retail sales excluding automotive are expected to increase 7.1% year over year. This follows 8.5% annual growth Mastercard SpendingPulse recorded during the 2021 holiday season.
According to the analysis, key 2022 holiday sales trends to watch include: