Pets, vacations and cars: How drunk shoppers spent $40 billion last year, survey says
Whiskey and Amazon don’t mix. Or maybe they mix too well.
Drunk Americans spent almost $40 billion last year, according to a survey from finder.com. About 12 percent of drunk shoppers bought pets, almost 11 percent bought cars, and 14.5 percent said they paid for a vacation, the survey found.
This is the fourth year the consumer website has conducted the drunk shopping survey. The site found that fewer Americans are shopping while drunk, but they’re spending more money per intoxicated person.
“It may be little surprise that food is our most common drunk purchase, with 52.06% of drunk shoppers admitting to buying a bite. Food is followed by shoes and clothing (43.22%) and cigarettes (30.26%),” according to the site.
The survey found that millennials spend more than other generations on drunk shopping, with Baby Boomers and Gen Xers about even.
“Interestingly, despite millennials spending more than any other generation on spontaneous sauced purchases, they consumed the least alcohol over the past year. Of the generations, Gen Xers (59.7%) are more likely to consume alcohol regularly than boomers (57%) and millennials (53.8%),” according to finder.com.
“More than a quarter (26%) of Americans admit to shopping under the influence, totaling some 53.4 million people, according to the latest Drunk Shopping survey,” the site says.
The survey found people in the United States spent about $39.4 billion shopping while drunk over the last year, up from about $30 billion the 12 months before. “Yet the percentage of Americans that admit to buying under the influence decreased to 26% in 2019 from 46% in 2018. Which means the amount we’re spending per person is on the rise,” according to the site.
Tech site The Hustle recently did its own drunk shopping survey, asking its readers about their intoxicated spending habits. The site admits its survey respondents were wealthier than most, with an average annual income of $92,000.
Hustle readers led the site to come to the conclusion that drunk shopping was a $48 billion industry, and most of that went to buying stuff online from Amazon.
Hustle also found that millennials were more likely to log on to Amazon while drunk. But, the site said, “While millennials are more likely to drunk shop than baby boomers, older drunk shoppers outspend their younger counterparts by an average of $150 per year (roughly the cost of a high-end lawn chair and a bullhorn for yelling at kids who are on the lawn).”
This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 2:19 PM.
