Consumers plan to start holiday shopping early, utilize sales events

Sixty percent of respondents said it is too early for retailers to start holiday promotions before October.

New data shows that the majority of American consumers will have started their holiday shopping by Nov. 1.

According to a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers from omnichannel shopping platform Skai, 58% of consumers will have begun holiday shopping by the time November rolls around, and 15% have already started their holiday shopping. Sixty percent of respondents said it is too early for retailers to start holiday promotions before October, while 20% said it’s never too early to start holiday promotions.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Skai found that 80% of survey respondents said they are planning to budget carefully due to economic concerns, although 66% said they plan to spend about the same or more this holiday season than previous years. When it comes to how much they plan to spend, American consumers are virtually split, with 51% saying they don’t plan on exceeding $500 on gifts, compared to 49% who will spend more than $500.