Four ways holiday shopping has changed since the pandemic began - CNBC

As holiday shoppers gear up for celebrations, they're preparing for a season that will look noticeably different than a year ago.

Consumers will likely nimbly shift between shopping online and in stores, and take full advantage of methods like curbside pickup.

(Though this holiday, convenience — not crowd avoidance — will drive the decision.) Stores have largely ditched layaway, but other ways have emerged for cash-strapped consumers to finance their holiday purchases.

that could push consumers to oscillate between purchasing things online to offline," said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.

Stories about the supply chain and backlogged ports are likely contributing to more people shopping in stores rather than online, when possible, he said?

And after an unprecedented surge in e-commerce spending last holiday season, it was likely that the growth was going to slow, Pandya added.

Still, Adobe predicts this will be the first holiday where online spending will top the $200 billion mark.

The National Retail Federation said it anticipates nearly 2 million more people will shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, even though 61% of shoppers have already begun to buy gifts.

On Black Friday, 64% said they expect to head to stores to shop, up from 51% last year, NRF said.

consumers plan to make more trips to stores to shop for presents this year.

About 43% of consumers plan to redirect their spending to experiences and service gifts this holiday season, according to a holiday shopping survey of roughly 1,500 U.S.

Nearly 70% of respondents plan to buy the same or more restaurant gift cards this holiday season versus last year and 47% plan to buy the same or more beauty products or services as gifts, such as a manicure?

Forty percent of older millennials — consumers between 32 and 39 — plan to buy travel vouchers or flight tickets for others during the holiday season, according to the survey