4 holiday shopping predictions you can take to the credit union in 2020

If you’re confused by the title of this article, it was intended to be a play on the phrase “take to the bank.” Also please don’t print off these predictions and hand them to your CU teller. They will be highly confused. Anyway, I think I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite activities on Thanksgiving night is to hit up Best Buy and stock up on the 5 and 10 dollar Blurays. That ain’t happening this year. #DangYouCovid. Nevertheless, holiday shopping is still going to be a thing, so here are four predictions for the 2020 holiday shopping season …

Online sales will shatter all records: I’ll be honest, I feel good about this one. With retailers not having the usual availability for in-person shopping, online shopping is going to, as they say, “have a year.” Shopping from the “COVID-free zone”, aka the couch, looks pretty good these days, and there’s absolutely no doubt that online sales will destroy all previous records for holiday revenue.

Deals will be a bigger deal: While people obviously spend piles of cash on holiday deals, you’re definitely not always buying off the sales list when you’re picking up gifts for your friends and family. This year, that may be slightly less true. With Americans looking to save more than usual in 2020, I think there’s a good chance that sales will have a greater impact on what people are buying this year than ever before.

Shoppers will be finished shopping earlier than ever: The pandemic forced Amazon to move their annual Prime Day from the middle of summer to the middle of October this year, and this may have been an early kickoff to the holiday shopping season. With the realization that Black Friday is (at least for this year) a thing of the past, there’s really no reason for consumers to wait until after Thanksgiving to start working on their shopping list.

Shipping will be more frustrating than ever: More things to ship equals busier shipping companies. That’s basic math. Or something. But seriously, if you’re thinking you can order something on Dec 21 and have it by Christmas, you may want to rethink that.