00:00The holiday season, normally a time of gift-giving, but increasingly it's a time of uncertainty, inflation, and anxiety.
00:07Before you break down, we've got you covered with some tools to help you maximize your savings.
00:17It's very hard for consumers to figure out what's high now, what's low now, and so it's a little bit confusing at the moment for consumers.
00:26More than half of consumers are stressed about finances during the holidays, with nearly 70% saying inflation plays a key role.
00:33At the same time, they're telling us they're spending, so it's that quandary we seem to have in our economy right now.
00:40Things aren't always very clear. They're a little bit confusing sometimes.
00:44To prepare for the holiday season, 56% of shoppers set aside money for gift-giving, while 45% have tightened their budgets.
00:51We're also going to see some lower inventory on some categories because retailers did pull back in certain cases when they were placing their holiday orders.
01:01We might see slightly lower discounts just because retailers are trying to balance their books with what's going on with the tariffs.
01:11For a growing number of people these days, it's not about the presents under the tree.
01:15You know, Gen Z doesn't want stuff. They don't have room for it. Some of them are living with their parents still as they're trying to get their footing.
01:23People are hungry for these IRL gatherings and done with spending on material goods and merchandise.
01:31They're really excited to get back to the roots of holiday tradition and go out and experience these nostalgic holiday events.
01:38Global events marketplace Eventbrite found searches for Christmas lights events were up 56% in December 2024 compared to December of 2023.
01:47Attendance at wine-related events jumped 25% and food events saw an attendance spike of 35%.
01:53People want to get together around food. Food and wine experiences were both up.
01:59These are just the classic holiday. If we're going to get together around the holidays, it's going to be over food.
02:04There are a ton of ways to book an experience for friends and family.
02:08Eventbrite distributed tickets to nearly 5 million events last year.
02:12Airbnb has also gotten in on the action recently.
02:15And Groupon is still out there hooking people up with deals.
02:18It's a gift that keeps on giving because you're learning something with your friends, with your family, with your co-workers
02:24that you can then take on and pass on to your family and friends and co-workers.
02:29So it really does bring people together.
02:31Blair Sode and Hanson gets it. Her business is all about the shared experience.
02:36Pasta Party Charleston is a hands-on pasta-making cooking class.
02:40And what's unique about us is we bring the party to you.
02:43So we bring all of the tools and ingredients that you need to learn how to make two different kinds of pasta
02:47to your home or your rental.
02:50Bachelorette parties are the bread and butter of Pasta Party.
02:52But the holidays are a great time to learn together.
02:55We did our first pasta party for a family last year.
02:59It was two daughters who have a tradition every year.
03:01They get a gift for their parents.
03:03So it was something that they gave their parents.
03:05It gave them something to look forward to after the holidays.
03:08It gave them a chance to come back together after the holidays, just the four of them,
03:12and have a great time together making pasta and getting a skill that then the daughters could take back
03:17and learn how to make pasta with their families together.
03:19Look, there are still people in your life that will prefer a present over quality time with you.
03:28I would venture a guess that if I were to enter the right queries with an AI,
03:34they could probably tell me better than I could what the right gift is for my wife this year, too.
03:40So, because I always seem to not get that quite perfect.
03:44And what's really cool right now is that these tools will give you recommendations, including the link.
03:49And then you could also ask it to do price comparison for you.
03:53So you make sure you're getting the best price.
03:55Experian found more than 60% of consumers are open to using AI as their holiday elf this year.
04:01AI has already been part of our life.
04:03We just are talking about it differently because of all these new tools popping up.
04:06You're going to be seeing in a lot of the sites that you use day to day, from Amazon to Walmart,
04:15wherever you're at shopping, you're going to see AI recommendations pop up.
04:19So you're going to be using AI to shop for the holidays, whether you like it or not.
04:23Pretty much everyone has an AI play this year.
04:26FedEx's 2025 holiday season e-commerce trend report found 97% of U.S. retailers plan to use AI to enhance the shopping experience.
04:35But the human brain must remain vigilant.
04:37I think the worry is that we have this trust in these tools to just give us all the right, perfect, honest information.
04:47And that might not be the case.
04:50So again, I think the best thing is to do your own research, to play around with every tool, see what they say, and compare it yourself.
04:57Even if AI doesn't make it into Santa's bag, 51% of consumers plan to do some holiday shopping online.
05:03So why not put your web browser to work?
05:06Browser extensions are great.
05:07What they are is they're a tool that helps make your browser smarter.
05:12You install it on your computer.
05:14It's free to do so.
05:15It takes a few seconds.
05:16And then as you're browsing online, the browser extension will pop up with an alert.
05:22Hey, there's a cashback offer here.
05:24There's a coupon that you can click on.
05:26There's a free shipping offer.
05:27So it's basically doing homework for you.
05:30There are endless numbers of extensions that can help with shopping.
05:33The Karma extension, for example, helps users compare prices, get coupons, and even price alerts.
05:39There are individualized extensions like Kipa, which track Amazon prices.
05:44Okay, you've seen this logo before.
05:46Rekkonen's extension promotes cashback rewards at 3,500 stores.
05:51It allows you to stack benefits on top of your credit card and merchant rewards.
05:55That's money that you're saving.
05:57And even if it's, you know, if it's like two bucks here.
06:00I mean, I think I made like 88 cents in cashback for something, like something small I purchased a few days ago for our dogs.
06:06It's 88 cents less.
06:08And then it's really nice because you get a check, I believe it's once a quarter.
06:11And I've had checks for like 115 bucks, depending on like how much shopping I do a quarter.
06:16This year, consumers are somewhat split on whether they're going the cash or credit route for their holiday purchases.
06:22So, you know, half of people tell us for the holiday season that they're going to use cash for their expenses, that they're putting money away.
06:31But almost half tell us they're also going to use credit or may use credit.
06:35And then about 40%, 45% tell us that they are going to use probably a combination of those things.
06:42And if you're in the right situation, maximizing credit card rewards can be a game changer during the season of giving.
06:48I think that the holidays is a great time if you are in the right place financially and your spending is going to help you net a welcome bonus or, you know, a little stash of points and miles.
06:59It's a great time to open a card.
07:01Some cards can be very demanding and expensive.
07:04There are cards out there that will give you a huge bonus with the caveat of spending thousands of dollars in just one quarter.
07:10I'll be the first to tell anybody that's a lot of money.
07:12$6,000 in three months is no joke.
07:15But given that, like, we're hosting Thanksgiving, so I'm, you know, I'm on the hook for a turkey.
07:20We're a big family.
07:21It's going to be at least 12 of us.
07:22So I might even do, like, a turkey and a ham, all the sides and stuff.
07:25There are cards, though, for every budget with varying levels of rewards.
07:30But restraint is crucial.
07:31Just because you can open a credit card and spend away doesn't mean you should.
07:35That's not to say you should manufacture spending and be like, well, it's like, tis the season, might as well just rack up all this credit card debt.
07:43Shoppers fall into this one-for-them, one-for-me habit around the holidays, which is not a good habit to fall into because it ends up creating too much spending.
07:52And then we ended up dragging debt into 2026.
07:55Make sure you know how you're going to spend, how you're going to repay the debts you take on.
08:00And that will take a lot of stress out of the holiday season for you.
08:03For Straight Arrow News, I'm Brent Jabbour.
08:06For more in-depth reporting, go to san.com or download the Straight Arrow News app.
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