77 Percent of Consumers Plan to Participate in the 2023 Holiday Shopping Season

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 20, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC), the parent company of LendingClub Bank, America's leading digital marketplace bank, today released key findings from the 28^th edition of the Reality Check: Paycheck-To-Paycheck research series, conducted in partnership with PYMNTS Intelligence. The Holiday Shopping Deep Dive Edition examines the financial lifestyles and spending choices of U.S. consumers going into the 2023 holiday shopping season. This edition draws on insights from a survey of 3,640 U.S. consumers conducted from Oct. 3 to Oct. 19 and an analysis of other economic data. 

The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Landscape
As of October 2023, 60% of consumers lived paycheck to paycheck, unchanged from a year prior. Among income brackets, 76% of consumers earning less than $50,000 annually lived paycheck to paycheck as of October 2023, as did 65% of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 and 42% of consumers earning more than $100,000.

While the share of consumers living paycheck to paycheck has remained relatively stable in 2023, gloomy perceptions about the economy continue to impact consumer sentiment, with many believing they are worse off now than they were in 2022. Overall, 38% of consumers consider themselves in poorer financial health relative to 2022, and 62% are very or extremely concerned about the economic outlook. Furthermore, a solid majority of Americans (58%) are still seeing inflation exceed growth in their paychecks.

Consumer Spend During the 2023 Holiday Season
Even though consumers believe their financial health is worse than a year ago, 77% expect to shop during the 2023 holiday season, only slightly less than the 78% seen a year ago. As was the case in 2022, bridge millennials and millennials are the most likely to plan to shop this year, at 81% and 80% respectively, and more likely than the average shopper to say they will spend more this year than last year, at 27% and 31% respectively. In fact, 1 in 5 shoppers expect their holiday spending will increase, primarily because of higher prices. That said, many consumers expect to spend less overall during the holiday season for a variety of reasons, citing decreased spending capacity (60%) and more conservative spending (23%) as the chief deterrents. 

Consumers Will Use Various Financing Options 
The share of potential shoppers planning to use credit and the share of purchases expected to be financed are down across all demographics. While the research indicates that only 13% of holiday purchases are expected to be financed through a credit product, 32% of consumers expect to use one or more credit options. Credit cards take the lead among credit options for holiday shopping, at 27%, followed by buy now, pay later (BNPL), at 20%. Among generations, bridge millennials saw the biggest drop in both credit usage as well as the share of purchases they expect to finance — implying that, despite having access to financing, these consumers either intend to cut back on holiday spending or use other means to cover their holiday spending (like tapping into savings or borrowing from friends and family). Additionally, younger generations are almost twice as likely to cite BNPL usage than Generation X consumers or baby boomers and seniors.