Gonna be an interesting Holiday Sales Season
For full context, I recommend reading the entire article, but here's the summary:
We project 2025 holiday spending to rise 2.5% in 2025, exceeding $1 trillion, but the increase will be driven almost entirely by higher pricing with little to no growth in sales volume. While affluent shoppers will boost spending, most consumers face pressure from high prices, slower employment and wage growth and increased credit use. This polarization means luxury segments may perform well, but it’s essential for mass-market retailers to adapt with more targeted promotions and efficiency to navigate a cautious, price-sensitive holiday retail sales season.
(Note that while overall dollar spend will likely see a modest increase, most of this will be due to higher inflation driven prices, NOT a greater number of overall items being sold.)
I remain somewhat optimistic that I will have a decent quarter, but I'm not wildly optimistic. As always, it depends a lot on what you sell and what your overall business plan and goals are.
12345jamesstamps
·11 months agoWinter weather can affect sales tremendously on the east coast and the midwest....power outages from wind, freezing rain and heavy snow...thus no internet to make purchases.
There will be an increase of domestic sales due to tariffs...and second hand used items especially.
International sales will suffer due to the tariffs coming in and outgoing to countries.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
OP11 months ago@12345jamesstamps Yep, weather is always a wild card. Not only can power outages impair purchasing, but of course, getting packages to their destinations in a timely fashion can become a real problem too. I'm hoping for a relatively mild Fall and Winter, but as the Nor Easter just demonstrated, things can turn ugly very quickly.
ebay reports Q3 on October 29th, and its possible they'll talk about the potential impact on ebay's revenue due to diminished cross border trade. Although just how candid they'll be is open to question.
Obviously, our Canadian sellers will be impacted. As I've said since the tariff kerfuffle began, the direct impact on my business (US based and US sourced) will be minimal, but the indirect impact---if many buyers pull back from buying due to higher prices on new goods---that's harder to gauge.
I would like to see ebay lean into holiday nostalgia when it comes to marketing this season, but have little hope along those lines.