{"id":38373,"date":"2025-11-20T15:34:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=38373"},"modified":"2025-11-20T15:34:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:34:44","slug":"holiday-shopping-season-forecasts-show-growing-k-shaped-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=38373","title":{"rendered":"Holiday shopping season forecasts show growing K-shaped divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Americans tend to overspend during the holiday shopping season<\/a>, and this year will be no different, according to some forecasts.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns about the economy<\/a>, President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s latest wave of tariff hikes\u00a0and persistent inflation<\/a>, holiday spending between November and December is expected to rise 3.7% to 4.2% and surpass $1 trillion for the first time, according to the\u00a0National Retail Federation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican consumers may be cautious in sentiment, yet remain fundamentally strong and continue to drive U.S. economic activity,\u201d Matthew Shay, NRF\u2019s president and CEO, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

However, other reports show that growing concerns about trade uncertainty and increased prices will weigh on household budgets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More from Your Money:<\/h2>\n
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Here\u2019s a look at more stories on how to manage, grow and protect your money for the years ahead.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A separate holiday retail survey<\/a>\u00a0by Deloitte found that holiday shoppers plan to pullback. Consumers expect to spend, on average, $1,595 this year as they brace for higher prices, down 10%<\/a> from last year.<\/p>\n

Another PWC report<\/a> found that holiday shopping trends are a lot less predictable this year, but overall, consumers expect to spend about 5% less<\/a>\u00a0on holiday gifts, travel and entertainment compared with the year-ago season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A growing divide<\/h2>\n
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According to TransUnion\u2019s newly released consumer pulse study, based on a survey of 3,000 adults last month, there\u2019s a growing divide: 57% of Americans expect to spend the same or more this year compared with last year, while roughly 43% plan to spend less.<\/p>\n

Holiday shoppers also said they expect to rely more heavily on credit cards<\/a> to make their purchases this season, with 42% saying it\u2019s their preferred payment method \u2014 up from 38% last year, TransUnion found.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In an increasingly\u00a0\u201cK\u201d-shaped economy<\/a>, credit card users are roughly split between higher-income consumers who don\u2019t carry a balance and use their cards to rack up reward points<\/a> and lower-income consumers who are \u201cprobably going to make purchases on credit cards because they don\u2019t have the cash,\u201d according to Charlie Wise, TransUnion\u2019s senior vice president of global research and consulting.<\/p>\n

Roughly 175 million consumers have credit cards. While some pay off the balance each month, about 60% of credit card users have revolving debt, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very much a two-track economy, as we know, and credit cards are a great example of that,\u201d said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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