By Melissa D. Espinosa

Holiday shopping is almost coming to a close.  With this year being an emotional and financial roller coaster for the US, one can’t help but wonder if the holidays would be affected.  Did consumers spend less than last year in light of the events?

The NRF reported that this year’s Holiday Shopping season was much better than last years. They expect online shopping between the moths of November and December to increase up to 10 percent more than last year. Retail sales expected to increase 3.6 percent or $655.8 billion better than the 3.2 percent or $632,835 billion of last year. Retailers are also expected to hire as many as 690,000 seasonal workers, more than last year’s 675,300 positions.

These forecasts show that consumers were not affected by recent events.  Just as Chris 22, a visitor in Bryant Park, NY said:

“The election didn’t have an effect in my spending.  It had an effect in my emotions but not in my spending.”

The PWC 2016 Holiday Shopping report says that about 84 percent of shoppers will spend the same amount of money as they did last year and 10 percent said that they will actually spend more this holiday season.

Grace age 10, a visitor at Bryant Park, says “I want a bike and a lot of clothes.” However, unlike Grace, according to the PWC report, what consumers want the most this year are gift cards and gifts of travel and entertainment, and only some want physical gifts such as clothes, shoes and toys.

SALE!?

This year, similarly to last year people are increasingly favoring online shopping.  Online shopping is no longer only referring to purchasing items over a laptop or desktop anymore, though it continues to lead at 63 percent, mobile devices such as phones and tablets are on the rise.  According to PWC around 36 percent of consumers now do their shopping through a smartphone or tablet, this is a difference of roughly 25 percent more than last year.

According to statistic Generation Z is now the largest demographic in the country, and they are the most influencing factors of mobile shopping. Research shows it is Generation Z whose shopping decisions are most influenced by social media, more than millennials.