As the holiday shopping season commences, younger Americans are preparing to scale back their participation more than any other generation. According to the latest CNBC|SurveyMonkey 2025 Small Business Saturday Survey, Gen Z and millennials plan to shop with tighter budgets, shorter gift lists, and more creative cost-saving measures, whether it is for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday.<\/p>\n
Our survey finds that Gen Z and millennials (24%) rely on budgeting tools at higher rates than Americans overall and significantly more than Gen X (12%) and Boomers (10%). Their spending plans reflect a more intentional, disciplined approach. This approach is likely due to the financial squeeze felt by younger Americans, who are turning to more resourceful gift-giving strategies.<\/p>\n
Gen Z shoppers, in particular, are turning to more resourceful gift-giving strategies. They are far more likely to make handmade gifts as a cost-saving measure (24%), a notable contrast with older shoppers (13% for both Gen Xers and Boomers). This approach blends creativity with practicality and further underscores that younger Americans are feeling the financial squeeze.<\/p>\n
Despite these cutbacks, most Americans (82%) \u2014 including younger consumers \u2014 still expect to shop for the holidays. But they plan to do it differently. A majority (82%) say they will complete most of their holiday shopping outside the Thanksgiving weekend, signaling that the traditional retail calendar continues to lose influence, especially among younger buyers.<\/p>\n
Small Business Saturday, for example, has become a reliable boost for Main Street, but this year’s data shows a shift in who is participating and why. The survey reveals a clear generational divide in what keeps Americans from supporting small businesses on Small Business Saturday. Gen Z and millennials are significantly more likely to cite a lack of awareness, not lack of intent, as the main reason they won’t take part.<\/p>\n
Nearly half (47%) of Gen Z shoppers say they’ll skip the day because they don’t know where local small businesses are, with millennials close behind (38%). Some of this awareness gap may reflect broader generational habits. Gen Z and millennials tend to rely more on online discovery when deciding where to shop, and search results often elevate national retailers first.<\/p>\n
For Main Street, this creates a clear mandate: reaching younger shoppers depends on strengthening digital discoverability and making local options easier to find. Without a strong digital presence, many small businesses simply don’t appear where younger consumers are looking. Price plays a role, too, but it is secondary (17% for Gen Z and 18% for millennials).<\/p>\n
Younger shoppers still point to awareness far more than cost, underscoring that their biggest barrier isn’t willingness or affordability, but visibility. A meaningful share of younger consumers (39% of Gen Z and millennials) say they plan to spend less this season because of the impact of tariffs, adding another layer of pressure to already tight budgets.<\/p>\n
This year’s data makes one thing clear: young shoppers are navigating this holiday season differently. Gen Z and millennials are entering the holidays with tighter budgets, more intentional spending habits, and far less awareness of where local small businesses are. For more information, visit Here<\/a><\/p>\n To make the most of your holiday shopping, consider creating a budget and sticking to it, and explore local small businesses in your area to find unique gifts while supporting your community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction to Holiday Shopping Trends As the holiday shopping season commences, younger Americans are preparing to scale back their participation more than any other generation. According to the latest CNBC|SurveyMonkey 2025 Small Business Saturday Survey, Gen Z and millennials plan to shop with tighter budgets, shorter gift lists, and more creative cost-saving measures, whether it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108232530-1764171784286-gettyimages-2245185879-_a743253.jpeg?v=1764171798&w=1920&h=1080","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-small-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":545,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions\/545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Smart Tip for Readers<\/h2>\n