COVID-19 continues to impact consumers’ plans for holiday celebrations and shopping, according to “Consumers Strive to Be Merry, Masked and Vaxxed This Holiday Season,” a new infographic by SMARTeam, Advantage Sales’ consumer goods insights team.
More consumers plan to celebrate the 2021 holiday season compared to 2020, but gatherings remain fewer than normal, according to the infographic, based in part on a survey of 1,300 Americans by SMARTeam. Among those who normally celebrate a holiday, 21% won’t celebrate Thanksgiving, 20% won’t celebrate Christmas and 22% won’t celebrate New Year’s this year.
Three in 10 shoppers say their financial status is worse than prior to the pandemic. Among those who plan to spend less this holiday season due to financial stress, 29% are spending less on holiday gifts.
Even as more of the population becomes vaccinated — only 13% of the SMARTeam’s survey respondents say they have no plans to be vaccinated — online shopping continues to be a popular option for holiday shopping. Nearly 60% of shoppers say they’ll spend online this holiday season, according to Statista.
