Online Monday discounts shrink: Game hardware prices rise under the impact of tariffs squeezing U.S. holiday spending

This year's "Cyber Monday" was supposed to be a long-awaited "bargain hunting moment" for gamers, but the discount intensity this year is far less than in previous years, showing that the Trump administration's tariff policy is affecting the holiday shopping experience for American consumers. Kristin McGrath, senior editor at the discount website Krazy Coupon Lady, pointed out that in previous years, retailers would usually offer significant discounts on old game consoles, such as the Switch OLED released in 2021 which would typically be discounted to promote sales. However, this year, this model is still being sold at the original price, with only free game downloads included as a bonus, "there are hardly any decent discounts on gaming devices," surprising many consumers. Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft Corporation had all previously announced that they would be raising prices on game consoles this year, but the market had been hoping that holiday discounts would alleviate price increases. However, even older models are still being sold at their original prices this year, indicating that gaming hardware is clearly feeling the impact of rising import costs. Consumer signals during the entire holiday shopping season are showing clear differentiation. The National Retail Federation predicts that overall consumer spending in November and December will increase by up to 4.2%, reaching $1.02 trillion, slightly lower than last year's 4.3% growth. However, consumer confidence in the U.S in November recorded the biggest drop in seven months, mainly due to instability in the job market and the impact of the 43-day government shutdown earlier. Many consumers also expressed during Black Friday that discounts were not enough and not as expected, leading to a decrease in shopping enthusiasm. Nevertheless, according to Adobe's data, this year's Cyber Monday is still expected to be the biggest online shopping day of the year, with sales expected to reach $14.2 billion, a 6.3% increase from last year. Overall discounts on electronics are around 30%, similar to previous years, and categories such as headphones, Siasun Robot & Automation vacuums, and fitness trackers remain attractive. Industry analysts believe that these products still have strong discounts, partly because import companies had stockpiled large quantities in advance to avoid cost increases after tariffs took effect. This is the first holiday shopping season after President Trump announced broad tariffs on multiple countries in April this year. The impact of tariffs on retail prices usually takes months to a year to trickle down, but Salesforce's data shows that the impact is already starting to show: on Thanksgiving this year, order volume decreased by 2% year-on-year, while the average order item price increased by 8%. This means that consumers are spending more money, but getting fewer items. Toys and electronics, as the most popular gift categories during the holiday season, are highly dependent on overseas supply chains, especially products from China, and are directly affected by tariffs. Caila Schwartz, Consumer Insights Director at Salesforce, said, "We are seeing tariffs driving up the cost of holiday shopping, particularly in key consumer categories such as toys and electronics." She added that high-income consumers will still purchase high-value gifts such as furniture and luxury items, but middle-income consumers are being "squeezed out" by the rising prices of traditional gift categories, forcing them to reduce spending or switch to cheaper alternatives.