Harris Poll: Gen Z and millennials are ready to splurge this holiday season

According to a new Harris Poll, 81% of Gen Z and millennial shoppers say they’re ready to splurge this holiday season, despite 62% saying they’re not financially prepared.

This wouldn’t be the first time the two demographic groups shelled out for the holidays despite a lack of funds. The poll found that 44% previously went into debt to pay for gifts, and 63% said they tend to be impulsive when holiday shopping.

• They also aren’t skimping on themselves. Around two-thirds said they see the holidays as an excuse to indulge on personal and luxury items, and 46% said they “would rather spend more money on myself than spend it on others during the holiday season.”

“This data underscores Gen Z and millennials’ robust eagerness to spend liberally for personal enjoyment this holiday season,” Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer and futurist at The Harris Poll, told Retail Brew in an email.

She added that recent economic and public health crises have led younger consumers to adopt “a blend of self-preservation” and “financial adaptability;” they’re “abandoning their budgetary constraints to escape into the holiday spirit.”

Deal hunters: Still, this doesn’t mean they’ll pay any price. Three-quarters said they rely on discount events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Prime Day for shopping.

• Half of the millennial and Gen Z respondents said Amazon was their main holiday shopping destination, while 36% preferred “in person at the mall.” (Interestingly, just 28% of Gen X and boomers said they preferred shopping in person at the mall, with 56% identifying Amazon as their main shopping destination.)

The Harris Poll comes amid a flurry of holiday forecasts.

• The National Retail Federation (NRF) recently predicted that consumer spending will rise 3%–4% year over year between November and December, marking a significant slowdown from 2020 and 2021.
• Deloitte, meanwhile, forecast that the average person’s gift spending will rise 14% YoYr, and holiday shopping will take place over a shorter period than last year.

Shoppers might be glad to hear this, according to the Harris Poll. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said the “holidays start way too early these days.”