• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 8, 2023

U.S. consumers are spending not quite as much as they did last year, according to a new study from Attest. 

Of the shoppers polled, 17.7% plan to spend $101-$200 on Black Friday — down from 17.9% last year — while 16.1% expect to spend $201-$300, a slight drop from 16.9%, and 13.6% said they will not participate.  

In addition, 26.1% expect to spend more than $300, compared to 29.9% in 2022.  

The West will be the hottest region — where 30.5% will spend more than $300, compared to 23.8% in the South.  

In general, 42% of consumers are putting off purchases until Black Friday, while 26% disagree that they are and 32% do not agree or disagree. 

The main purchases will be:

• Clothing — 54.1% 
• Technology — 49.5% 
• Home goods — 31.6% 

Gen Z is particularly focused on clothing — 71.3% expect to shop in the category. But they want deals. 

Moreover, 49.5% of consumers overall expect technology bargains, a 7.7% increase over last year. 

Boomers are suspicious — 35% are unsure about the legitimacy of Black Friday Deals, compared to 24.7% of all consumers.  

But there is a note of caution for ecommerce marketers: only 19.9% of Black Friday shoppers plan to shop exclusively online, down from 35.8% in the prior year. 

However, 66.1% are planning to shop online and in-store, compared to 44.4% in 2022. And only 14% will buy only in-store, a decline from 19.8% last year. 

Overall, 81.2% of shoppers will be on the lookout for Christmas presents on Black Friday. But 61.5% hope to purchase treats for themselves and 25.4% will be searching for birthday gifts.  

There is a falloff in the number spending on presents for kids — 54.2% are doing so, in contrast to 64.4$ in 2022.  

Also, 49.8% will buy for significant others, a decline of less than a percentage point from last year. And there will be a slight drop in the number buying for parents.

Attest surveyed 2,000 U.S. consumers on its platform in October 2023. The Attest study appears as a report from Bluehost, which shows small businesses are not ready for their holiday ecommerce. 

Of those polled, 38% are not comfortable maintaining their own sites. Their challenges include the following: that 31% lack knowledge, 44% lack technical skills and 43% don’t have the time, while 72% put in no extra work time to prepare their site for the holidays. 

Bluehost says it surveyed thousands of its own customers.