People spent less on THINGS and more on EXPERIENCES.
Have Money, Will Travel
Persistent inflation and higher interest rates have strained many household budgets, and consumers are shying away from some purchases such as home improvement projects or restaurants. But millions of U.S. consumers aren’t giving up their vacations. Consumer spending has begun moderating overall, but the categories that are holding up the strongest are the travel categories.1 According to Travel Pulse, the number of overall travel transactions has increased by 21.3%, indicating that consumers are traveling more than they were a year ago, despite higher prices.2
Travel Increases Despite Inflation
In Figure 1, the Yodlee data on multiple travel categories indicates that consumers are spending more on travel-related expenses such as airfare, lodging, cruises and car rentals than on categories of home improvement, furnishing, restaurants, apparel, crafts and electronics. In fact, travel spend accelerated in December 2022 through July 2023 despite rising inflation over this same period as more money was spent on plane tickets and hotel stays.
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About Envestnet | Yodlee Merchant, Retail, Shopper, and Spend Insights
Envestnet | Yodlee Merchant, Retail, Shopper, and Spend Insights utilize de-identified transaction data from a diverse and dynamic set of data from millions of accounts to identify patterns and context to inform spending and income trends. The trends reflect analysis and insights from the Envestnet | Yodlee data analysis team. By combining data with intelligence – connecting vast amounts of actual de-identified shopping data with state-of-the-art analytics and machine learning – Envestnet | Yodlee provides visibility into an entire set of shopping daily purchase behavior including, but not limited to, transactions, customer lifetime values, and merchant/retailer shares.
To learn more about Envestnet | Yodlee Merchant and Retail Insights and get a free demo, please contact an Envestnet | Yodlee sales representative.
