Consumer ‘wallet shift’ creating ‘return to normal’ in retail industry retail experts say US consumers still have ‘firepower’ to spend.

In the midst of holiday shopping and Black Friday deals, experts from the National Retail Federation are raising questions about the American consumer’s wallet.

As you can see from the consumer spending data, consumers continue to drive the U.S. economy. Seventy-percent of GDP is made up of consumer spending. Mark Mathews, NRF director of research, believes that what is happening is not necessarily a significant reduction in consumer spending overall, but simply a change in where consumer spending is headed.

The holiday period looks more like pre-pandemic holidays, he said. “We’re pretty bullish about it,” he added. It wasn’t the supercharged retail that we saw during the pandemic, but it was nonetheless a return to normal trends.

For the remainder of this year, consumer spending is expected to reach record levels, between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion, which represents a 3 to 4% increase over 2022. Winter holiday shopping is expected to cost consumers nearly $900 per person, with the research director stating that spending on loved ones is a priority.

“Our latest numbers for the Thanksgiving-Black Friday weekend show that consumers are willing to spend.

There is a $3 trillion difference between the U.S. consumer’s bank account after the Pandemic and their pre-pandemic bank account, and every category of household income has gone up.” he noted. The sense is that they’re pockets of the economy and pockets of the consumer that are absolutely struggling. But when you look at it on an aggregate basis, consumers have still got plenty of cash to spend.”

Additionally, a survey from Clever recently unveiled that 61% of Americans have credit card debt today, owing an average of $5,875. NRF’s resident data expert said