60% of Consumers Say Discounts Will Determine Holiday Shopping Loyalty

A new study shows price is everything as budget-minded decisions are consumers’ top drivers.

In the latest edition of “New Reality Check: The Paycheck-To-Paycheck Report: The Holiday Shopping Edition,” a PYMNTS and LendingClub collaboration, more consumers say they will consider sales and prices when choosing where to shop than they will any other factor.

In fact, we found that promotions and discounts will wind up swaying 60% of consumers, and a full 40% claim it is the most important factor.

The desire to save money at the virtual and brick-and-mortar registers comes as a full 60% of consumers live paycheck to paycheck, up four percentage points from a year ago.

There’s a widespread pullback in evidence, too, as 15 million consumers who shopped for holiday gifts in 2021 do not plan to do so this year.

That means that 79% of consumers plan to shop for the 2022 holiday season, representing a 10% decrease from 88% in 2021. Drilling down a bit, the pullback will be most keenly felt by those living paycheck to paycheck with issues paying their monthly bills. While 82% of these consumers shopped during the 2021 holiday season, just 68% plan to shop during the same period this year.

For the merchants, that means less foot and online traffic and intense jockeying for relatively limited wallet share.

For all PYMNTS coverage, subscribe to the daily PYMNTS and Retail newsletters.