The Hot Gift This Coming Holiday Season: Value

Halfway through the year in which artificial intelligence is changing everything, evidence is mounting that consumers’ financial stress is about as bad as it was during the devastating 2008-2009 Great Recession. Shoppers are now savvier than ever about the price and value of nearly everything.

Consumer Behavior Shift

In fact, so many forces are bearing down on retailers this coming holiday season that it’s hard to know where to begin the discussion. For example, AI is nipping at Walmart’s and Amazon’s heels in product discovery, merchandise comparison, and pricing. From the same smart phone consumers use to check if Walmart’s price for an item is more or less than Amazon's, a shopper can type this prompt into a popular AI platform like Perplexity: “I want to buy a pair of wireless ear buds. Find the best price for value.” What comes back is a concise, all-text, organized and detailed response that begins, ”For pure price‑for‑value right now….”

■Consumer financial stress is increasing

■AI is changing retail

■Price and value comparison is being done

Economic Impacts

A recent Harris Poll survey conducted for British newspaper The Guardian reported that 57% of respondents said the US economy is getting worse (an increase from 46% who said so in February) and that 95% of those polled believe the country is in an affordability crisis. The poll found that about half of those surveyed said managing their debt has become a challenge.

Markets are reacting to this situation and changing consumer behavior.