Mat Pond operates The Epicurean Trader in San Francisco, including four brick-and-mortar stores, an online shop and a corporate gift basket business. In past years, he started building inventory in November, but this year he’s already stocking up on items such as gourmet food, chocolate, wine and giftware. He’s seeing corporations order holiday gift baskets earlier as well.
Hannah Nash, the owner of the online jeweler Lucy Nash, expects sales of her earrings, bracelets and other jewelry to slow after two years of strong growth. The main culprit: inflation. “There is less money going around to the average person and we expect their living expenses to impact how much they can spend on holiday shopping,” Nash said.
Nash also expects more people to shop in stores during these holidays. She started her business, based in Indianapolis, during the pandemic, when online shopping boomed. The percentage of total retail sales done online jumped from 11.5% in 2019 to 17.7% in 2020, then rose again to 18.8% last year, according the Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks all kinds of payments, including those by cash and debit card.
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