As Holiday Shopping Begins, Half Of Consumers Hurt Economically By Pandemic

A majority of consumers have faced some kind of hardship resulting from the spread of COVID-19, including reduced income (19%), fewer work hours (18%), a temporarily closed (14%) or permanently shuttered (9%) employer, layoffs (12%), furloughs (9%) and career change prompted by COVID-19 (3%), according to survey results from PwC. Just 49% of those surveyed experienced none of those effects. And while 95% of business leaders say that some sort of fiscal policy is needed to support consumer demand, little progress has been made in stimulus talks at the federal level. PwC also reports that a majority of consumers (55%) said COVID-19 is their top concern around holiday shopping, with 65% saying they are most concerned about catching the virus. As they shift their shopping behavior, 61% said they plan to do most of their shopping online, according to PwC. Read more at Retail Dive.