“My concern is that if I do not have an ample supply of product now, it might not be available to me when I need it,” says Oren Spiegler, 65, of Peters Township, Pennsylvania. “They’re seeing it and grabbing it,” Cohen says. Yet consumers are also stockpiling everything from groceries to T-shirts to shampoo because of supply chain bottlenecks that have limited the availability of many products. Many people, of course, are shopping at stores less often to limit the risk of contagion, and are stocking up so they don’t run out of items before the next visit, Cohen says. “It’s not going away.”Įighty-five percent of consumers say they intend to stick with or accelerate some or all the changes they made in shopping habits during the pandemic, according to a survey by consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal. He adds that that’s a sign the shift could endure in some form, noting he expected the trend to fade somewhat as the pandemic eased this year. The average transaction hovered at about $34 before the pandemic, according to the research firmĮven more surprising is that each month this year, the average total spent per shopping occasion was at least 20% higher than the comparable period in 2019, Cohen says. In each of the 12 months beginning in March 2020, when the pandemic took root in the U.S., consumers have made fewer trips to stores, and the average amount spent per transaction – whether in a store or online – was up 13% to 29% from a year earlier, NPD data shows. What’s more, the new dynamic could last, at least to some extent, for the longer term. The trend has made for more volatile consumer spending patterns and resulted in fewer impulse purchases, a shift that could have significant implications for the coming holiday sales season, says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD.
Road to riches?: How saving $737 a month could make you a millionaireĮarly Halloween: Lowe's to host trick-or-treating at stores nationwide before Halloween. In an interview, she added, “I think some of it is a long-term change.”ĭuring the health crisis, Americans have been shopping less often but spending more on each trip or online purchase, according to monthly surveys by NPD Group, a consulting firm on consumer behavior and retail.
“I have shopped less frequently,” Mosesel, 39, wrote in an email, “and have really cut back on the ‘wants.’” When she does, she scurries in and out, grabbing only essentials like toilet paper and paper towels Watch Video: Retailers using luxury to draw mall shoppersīefore the COVID-19 pandemic, Devon Mosesel of Columbia, South Carolina, shopped for clothing and shoes at stores like Target and Marshal’s a few times a month.Īnd there would inevitably be that spur-of-the moment purchase.Ī book.