Holiday Shopping Trends: Here’s What Consumers Want in 2022

In good news for small business retailers, a record number of American consumers shopped over the five-day holiday shopping weekend (Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday), according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

In total, 196.7 million consumers shopped in-store and online, up 17 million from 2021, “shattering NRF’s initial expectations by more than 30 million.”

In a post-pandemic shopping spree, consumers flooded retail stores, with over 122.7 million people shopping in person, up 17% from 2021. Online shopping grew too, but at a much slower pace, with 130.2 million consumers shopping online, up 2% from last year.

Small Business Saturday was the second-biggest shopping day of the weekend (behind Black Friday), drawing 63.4 million shoppers, an increase of 12.4 million consumers from 2021. And 77% of these consumers say they specifically shopped to support small businesses.

If you’re surprised by so much consumer spending in the light of an uncertain economy and inflationary prices, Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO, says that “it is consumer demand that is driving growth.

There’s a difference between action and attitude.” You can learn more information about 2022 holiday shopping trends at the NRF Winter Holiday Headquarters.

According to the Small Business Holiday Report, recently released by Kabbage from American Express, the holidays are a crucial time for small retailers, with 24% of the small businesses surveyed saying their holiday sales will determine if their companies can survive into 2023.

Consumers want to shop small

A study from GoTo about consumer shopping habits and preferences for the 2022 holiday season underscores the shop small preference, showing that 75% of Americans plan to shop small for the holidays, and 41% are even willing to spend more doing so. Many (46%) say that reliable customer support from small businesses is their prime motivating factor for shopping small.

Jamie Domenici, GoTo’s chief marketing officer, says one way small businesses can take advantage of consumer interest in shopping small is by providing excellent customer service.

It’s estimated to cost five to 25 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain a current one. Customer service, therefore, is key to customer retention. Domenici says to make sure your customer service is accessible from anywhere. No matter how your customer wants to connect, you need to have tools in place so they can reach you wherever they (or your employees) are.

The  2022 Holiday Gift Report from Snappy also shows that most Americans (64%) prefer to buy and get gifts that support small businesses. They are particularly looking for gifts from minority-owned (Black, AAPI, women) companies that “have foundations built on sustainable business practices.”

Doing business with socially-conscious businesses matters to today’s consumers:

• 4 in 10 Americans prefer to give and receive eco-friendly gifts;
• 50% prefer purchasing gifts that give back to charities and nonprofit organizations close to their heart.

Marketing tools drive customer sales

The report by Kabbage from American Express also shows that about one-quarter of business owners (23%) plan to invest in marketing tools to bring customers to their stores. Of that group, 64% will increase their marketing spending to attract customers, primarily by sending seasonally targeted emails (26%), creating holiday product bundles (26%), and offering holiday customer promotions and incentives (25%).

While 53% of small businesses plan to adjust their budget for additional holiday expenses, employee retention is also a priority. Nearly a third (32%) of the businesses surveyed plan to give holiday bonuses to current and new employees to attract and keep them.