(NewsNation) — Despite retailers hoping for blockbuster sales numbers this holiday season, Christmas tree sales suggest that consumer spending is taking a hit.
A company called Evercore ISI has been studying the sales of Christmas trees for over 20 years and has found that this is one of the most accurate ways to gauge consumer spending around the holidays. This holiday season, the annual Christmas tree survey suggests that people are spending less than usual. Tree sales were up just 3% year over year in the three weeks since Thanksgiving, compared to 2024 when sales were up 7% year over year.
Some tree sellers told Evercore that customers are paying closer attention to how much they’re spending this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sales of eight-foot and higher trees, typically the most expensive, were flat this year. The smaller six-to-eight-foot trees, ones that cost around 75$, saw a slight drop in sales. In addition, tree sellers note that extras, like wreaths, garland and baskets have been hard to move at all.
The CEO of one of the largest artificial tree companies announced this week that their sales patterns are proving to be similar to what tree farmers are seeing. Companies that were able to get ahead of the tariffs stocked up before they kicked in back in April. But for California-based Balsam Hill, that meant cutting back on orders, laying off 10% of its staff and still having to raise prices.
“Last year, 87% of all the Christmas décor that was imported into the United States, across the industry, came from China. And nearly 100% of it came from outside the U.S,” Mac Harman, CEO of Balsam Hill, said. “Because of the tariffs, prices have gone up. And so, everyone in the industry has done what they can to absorb prices.”
There has not been much agreement on just how robust holiday spending has been this year. Adobe reported online sales were up over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. However, account data analyzed by Bank of America found that any sales growth that happened over that weekend had already died off by the end of November.
Americans have had to increasingly rely on data from banks, tree sellers and software companies, as the federal government’s November retail sales report was never released. The report was delayed by the government shutdown, and as of now, it is not scheduled to be released.