Shopping hauls are so back

Remember the shopping haul? Loading up purchases of clothing, accessories or skincare? The phenomenon is making a comeback in the digital age, helped by fast fashion, social media, faster sale cycles and an increasing dependence on buy-now-pay-later options. Erika Tulfo

Aria Liu, 17, regularly posts shopping haul videos to her YouTube channel, which has 300,000 subscribers. She films her sprees by displaying a live feed of her laptop screen as she buys up to thousand-dollar shopping carts of clothes and makeup. “I shop so much more online,” she told CNN. “I don’t know what it is, but when I’m shopping online, money doesn’t feel real.” Liu’s not alone. Shopping hauls have existed for years, if not decades. But experts say the potent mix of products featured ubiquitously on social media feeds and popping up as algorithm-boosted recommendations; Buy Now, Pay Later programs; and a constant loop of sales has made massive purchases of clothes, cosmetics and more at once all the more common. It’s not just an online influencer trend: The average number of items per transaction in the Consumer Goods category is the highest it’s been over the past 12 months, averaging nearly 11 products per order, according to digital marketing platform Dynamic Yield. It’s even more robust than sales in last December’s holiday shopping season. The average value of a digital cart is also at a 12-month high and rose $50 from June to $206 per order, Dynamic Yield reported. We may not all be shopping till we’re dropping, but consumer spending has remained shockingly robust despite an economy that shows signs of stress. The US Commerce Department reported July retail spending surged way past economists’ expectations, rising by 1% from June’s revised 0.2% decline. One factor fueling purchase growth may be the ubiquity of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) offerings like Klarna and Afterpay that are becoming increasingly mainstream. Even a lack of immediate cash has become less of an impediment to shopping.