October 2024
Is online spending creating new holiday hotspots?
Online spending is continuing to rise, driving an earlier holiday shopping season and pressuring some malls.
Key takeaways
- Bank of America internal credit and debit card data suggests that the share of online spending in August has increased year-over-year (YoY), likely driven by lower-income households as they pivot from brick-and-mortar (B&M) to online to search for deals.
- This trend is also evident in holiday spending. Compared to 2019, 5% of in-person B&M spending during the holidays has shifted away from Black Friday and Christmas Eve last year, as consumers shop earlier and online. Meanwhile, Cyber Monday has gained 2% of holiday spending share, as consumers skip the lines for online carts.
- Higher earners don't seem to have turned their backs on the mall as much as their lower-income counterparts, though. While aggregate spending surged at shopping malls in 2021 after closures during the pandemic, it has since fallen back sharply for those on lower incomes versus, down 20% compared to just 4% for higher earners. This suggests much more stability for higher-end shopping malls.
Read our full analysis for a more in-depth look at these trends.
