Another Reason for a Lukewarm Holiday Season: Shoppers Are Bummed Out

Over 60% of Americans say the pandemic has soured their attitudes toward gift buying

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With a coronavirus vaccine unlikely to arrive until next year, shopping mall foot traffic still down by 37%, and a gaggle of leading retailers mired in bankruptcy proceedings, few believed that the 2020 holiday season was going to look anything like last year. Even with fat cats like Amazon and Walmart poised to welcome the anticipated flood of online orders, analysts are predicting a decidedly sober holiday.

A study by AlixPartners released Sept. 21, for instance, showed that nearly a quarter of Americans (23%) planned to spend less on holiday shopping this year than last, representing a deterioration of 7 percentage points compared to 2019.

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