2023 Holiday Spending Expected to Reach Record Levels and Cash Back is King

Today, RetailMeNot is kicking off its fifth annual retail holiday, Cash Back Day. For the first time, RetailMeNot is extending the event to a full three days of savings on November 2-4, 2023. Whether they are shopping for holiday gifts for others or themselves, shoppers can receive up to 30% cash back at thousands of leading retailers across categories, including apparel, cosmetics, electronics, travel, and many more. Historically, shoppers earned an average of $18 cash back per order, and RetailMeNot has paid out nearly $1.3 million to shoppers throughout their past four Cash Back Day events.

Cash back tends to be consumers’ preferred loyalty reward when choosing where to shop and how to pay. In a study by Valuedynamx, 50% of cardholders cited cash back as the most desired benefit due to the versatile nature of redemption options.

The National Retail Federation today also published its 2023 holiday spending forecast, anticipating consumer spending to reach record levels during November and December and will grow between 3% and 4% over 2022 to between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion. Despite inflation, higher interest rates, and stringent credit conditions, “[w]e expect spending to continue through the end of the year on a range of items and experiences, but at a slower pace. Solid job and wage growth will be contributing factors this holiday season, and consumers will be looking for deals and discounts to stretch their dollars,” said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz in a press release.

Additionally, a Deloitte survey found that holiday spirit and spending have rebounded. Consumers are expected to spend an average of $1,652 this season, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Two-thirds of consumers plan to participate in promotional events, such as those during the week of Black Friday through Cyber Monday.

Consumers are shopping for the best deals and perfect gifts across channels this holiday season. Mastercard anticipates e-commerce sales to increase by 6.7% and in-store sales to increase by 2.9% YOY. “We expect the most effective holiday strategy will be to meet consumers where they are – personalized promotions to in-store experiences will be key in doing so,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated.

Shoppers will have no shortage of opportunities to take advantage of generous deals, extra savings, and enhanced cashback offers this holiday season. Promotional events like RetailMeNot’s Cash Back Day, Bank of America’s upcoming More Rewards Day, and Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday deals will allow consumers to spend and save more as they shop at large and small retailers in stores and online.    

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