Saks Global Luxury Pulse Shows Intentional Spending and Focus on Experiences for the Holidays

3 in 4 luxury consumers plan to spend the same or more compared to last holiday season

NEW YORK, NY - December 3, 2025 - Saks Global, the largest multi-brand luxury retailer in the world, released its latest Saks Global Luxury Pulse survey of luxury shoppers, revealing the luxury consumer's measured enthusiasm for the 2025 holiday shopping season. According to the survey, fielded October 9-14, 2025, 75% of luxury consumers plan to spend the same or more this holiday season than they did last year. While this represents a 7 percentage point decrease from the 2024 survey, it is relatively consistent with the luxury consumer's spending intent for the 2023 and 2022 holiday seasons.

"Luxury retail is a relationship business, and the holidays present a significant opportunity to strengthen our connections with our customers and become part of their holiday traditions," said Kristin Maa, Chief Marketing Officer, Saks Global. "We know that shopping and getting dressed up are both important parts of the holidays for luxury customers. With that in mind, we plan to deepen our relationships with them by giving them the most inspiring shopping experience wherever they choose to shop across Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman."

Luxury consumers are highly engaged this season-celebrating by spending time with family and friends, shopping for gifts and attending holiday parties. The Saks Global Luxury Pulse also showed significant increases in the luxury consumer's intent to get dressed up, as well as travel, compared to last holiday season. Saks Global's luxury retail brands are the ultimate destinations for holiday shopping-with distinctly curated edits to meet every desire, from holiday fashion discovery and gifting inspiration to essentials for holiday travels.

Holiday Shopping: Luxury consumers continue to embrace luxury self-gifting, and they are shopping for the holidays both online and in stores, reinforcing the importance of a seamless cross-channel experience that offers highly elevated service.

• While luxury consumers remain highly engaged in celebrating the holidays and shopping for gifts, respondents indicated a slight decrease in intent to shop for and receive gifts. 80% plan to shop for gifts for others, which is a 5 percentage point decrease compared to last holiday season, and 55% expect to receive gifts, down 8 percentage points compared to last holiday season.
• 44% of luxury consumers plan to buy luxury gifts for others, primarily clothing and beauty, which is a 2 percentage point increase compared to last year. Respondents also indicated a 2 percentage point increase in plans to self-gift luxury (60%), primarily clothing and shoes. In addition to experiences, the top luxury gifts luxury consumers want to receive are handbags and fine jewelry. While not high on their list of gifts to give to others, men overindex on plans to gift fine jewelry.
• While online shopping remains the luxury consumer's preferred shopping method for the holidays (61%), in-store shopping is on the rise this year driven by a desire for an immersive shopping experience. The preference to shop online is 4 percentage points higher among Millennial luxury consumers and 3 percentage points higher among women, and they are motivated by convenience and avoiding crowds.
• Driven by a desire to touch and feel the products, try on clothes for fit, and discover new styles in person, the preference to shop in stores is 10 percentage points higher among luxury consumers in the Baby Boomer and Silent Generations and 8 percentage points higher among men.

Economic Sentiment: While luxury consumer sentiment around the macroeconomic environment remains soft, particularly in comparison to the same time last year, their confidence about personal finances continues to improve.

• Following an increase in optimism about the economy in the previous survey fielded in July, 30% of respondents indicated feeling optimistic in the latest survey, which is a 2 percentage point decrease compared to July, and an 18 percentage point decrease compared to the same time last year.
• Feelings of preparedness related to the economy continue to increase steadily, with 47% of respondents indicating feeling prepared, a 2 percentage point increase compared to July and an 8 percentage point decrease compared to the same time last year.
• Despite a pullback in economic optimism, the latest survey saw a resurgence in positivity around the luxury consumer's personal financial situation, approaching levels of the same time last year. 65% of respondents reported feeling optimistic about their personal finances, which is a 6 percentage point increase compared to the July survey and a 5 percentage point decrease compared to the same time last year.
• The general social and political climate remains the luxury consumer's top concern, especially among core luxury consumers with an income of $200K or more, followed by ongoing global conflicts, financial security and an impending recession or economic downturn.
• Although tariffs still do not rank in the luxury consumer's top five concerns, their level of concern around tariffs has risen by 3 percentage points compared to the July survey. 90% of respondents believe higher tariffs will increase prices of consumer goods and 87% expect the changes in tariffs to impact their overall spending in the near term.

Luxury Spending: The luxury consumer's expectations for luxury spending are stabilizing, driven by core luxury shoppers, but they are taking an intentional approach to spending during the holidays. Their willingness to pay full price for items they want, or buy fewer items rather than trading down for non-luxury items, is increasing.

• 58% of luxury consumers said they plan to spend the same or more on luxury in the next three months compared to the previous three months, which is a 2 percentage point increase compared to the July survey and a 7 percentage point decrease compared to the same time last year. Luxury spending intent has steadily increased since the survey fielded in April, now reaching the levels seen in January.
• Luxury consumers indicated they plan to focus their discretionary spend on travel, clothing and beauty over the next three months. In the areas they plan to spend less, the majority of respondents said they would buy fewer items rather than trading down for non-luxury items, which is particularly true for handbags and jewelry, where 88% of luxury consumers indicated they would not trade down.
• 31% of luxury consumers said they are more inclined to pay full price for the item they want, rather than waiting for it to go on sale, which is an increase of 4 percentage points and 3 percentage points compared to the July survey and the same time last year respectively. This is the highest point since the survey began tracking this question in July 2023.
• Among respondents who plan to spend the same or less on luxury over the next three months, their top incentive to spend more is an enticing sale or promotional event, followed by an increase in income and an unexpected special occasion.

About Saks Global Luxury Pulse

The Saks Global Luxury Pulse is a quarterly online survey of luxury consumers' attitudes towards shopping, spending and the economy. It is based on responses from 1,994 U.S.-based luxury consumers over age 18 and was fielded from October 9-14, 2025.

About Saks Global

Saks Global is the largest multi-brand luxury retailer in the world, comprising Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks OFF 5TH, Last Call and Horchow. Its retail portfolio includes 70 full-line luxury locations, additional off-price locations and five distinct e-commerce experiences. With talented colleagues focused on delivering on our strategic vision, The Art of You, Saks Global is redefining luxury shopping by offering each customer a personalized experience that is unmistakably their own. By leveraging the most comprehensive luxury customer data platform in North America, cutting-edge technology, and strong partnerships with the world's most esteemed brands, Saks Global is shaping the future of luxury retail.

Saks Global Properties & Investments includes Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus flagship properties and represents nearly 13 million square feet of prime U.S. real estate holdings and investments in luxury markets.

For more information, visit SaksGlobal.com and follow Saks Global on LinkedIn.