Americans spend less time, more money on shopping, study finds

(InvestigateTV) — NerdWallet reported that online shopping has grown 470% in the last 20 years.

Elizabeth Renter with NerdWallet reviewed data from the American Time Use Survey, which chronicles how Americans spend time on any given day.

Renter found the share of people shopping over the last 20 years has decreased and less time is being spent shopping. But that doesn’t mean less is being spent.

“The Census data that looks at online shopping in particular shows that we are spending far more money,” she noted. “So, during that 20-year period, spending on the category that includes online shopping grew from about $17 billion per quarter to $99 billion per quarter and that’s after adjusting for inflation.”

Renters said convenience is great, but if people find themselves feeling regret after some late-night scrolling and buying on the couch, there are things they can do to help themselves.

“If you’re looking at the credit card balance and saying, ‘Oh my gosh what did I buy this month?’ It might be time to take a step back and think about what you can do to make it a little less easy to spend that money,” Renter said. “And so, reintroduce some of the obstacles that shopping in person used to give you. You might build in a waiting period.”

She said before hitting purchase to checkout online, leave the item in the cart for 24 hours and come back. People may change their mind or realize they don’t need it or can wait for a sale.

Another thing to do is use wish lists instead of adding items directly into a cart.

She also said similar to stores being open on certain days at certain times, maybe only shop at certain times of the day, on certain days of the week.

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