Intuit: Consumers Expected to Spend 34% Less This Holiday Season

It’s not all good news with the economy. According to Intuit, a QuickBooks-commissioned survey predicts a 34% drop in consumer holiday spending, an $85 billion decrease from last year.

Of those who plan to spend less this year, more than 6 in 10 say grocery and gas prices are to blame, the survey revealed. Another 4 in 10 say their wages haven’t kept up with inflation over the past year.

Ironically, small business owners are anticipating the opposite trend. Eighty-two percent of business owners surveyed, for example, said that they expect to earn the same or more revenue in total holiday sales than they did last year. Perhaps they need the optimism. Twenty-three percent of business owners surveyed said that if the holidays are not a success, it will make it a really difficult year. Five percent said they might have to close.

And of the revenue they do earn, the majority said it will just go toward paying down business debt.