Americans Spend Over $14 Billion Drunk Shopping

Every time we think we’ve run out of things to write about we’re blindsided by something new…like the billions Americans spent on spontaneous drunk purchases last year.

1 in 6 Americans (45 million) admitted to shopping under the influence according to the latest Drunk Shopping survey from Finder, an annual survey of roughly 2,000 US adults asked about their drinking and shopping habits.

While the number of people buying items after drinking is down compared to last year, drunken shoppers are still spending a lot. Collectively, Americans spent $14 billion on drunk purchases in the past 12 months, down from last year’s more than $21 billion.

American Alcohol Drinking Patterns by the Numbers

According to a 2020 survey by Finder…

• 69.7% of Americans drink at least one alcoholic beverage per week
• On average, American drinkers consume 8 alcoholic drinks per week
• The most commonly consumed alcoholic beverage by men is beer, with 63.7% of men drinking at least one beer a week, compared to women who tend to favor wine, with 46.2% of women having at least one glass per week
• Millennials and Gen X are consuming the largest amount of alcoholic beverages weekly, both consuming an average of 8.85 drinks per week
• Americans on average spend the most per glass of wine ($11.86) and the least on a can of beer ($7.57)

Here’s what Drunk Americans are buying

The most common purchases include shoes, clothes or accessories (47%) and food (47%), alcohol (34%) gambling (34%), and cigarettes (34%) and DVDs, movies or streaming services (25%). Motor vehicles come out on top as the most expensive category at an average spend of $2,038.

Food was the top choice for boomers at 45%, with alcohol the most popular option for Gen X at 45%. Shoes, clothes or accessories was most commonly bought by both Gen Y (52%) and Gen Z (44%).

 

Men Shop Drunk More than Women

Breaking some stereotypes, fewer women are shopping under the influence (10%) than men (26%). Gen Y sips and shops the most often (33%), followed by Gen Z (28%), but both are most commonly splurging on shoes, clothes and accessories.

 

US Regions with the Most Drunk Shoppers

The West showed the highest percentage of people admitting to drunk shopping with 20% of adults in that region saying they had shopped drunk in the past year. This was followed by the 18% of the people drunk shopping in the South, 17% in the Northeast and the 15% in the Midwest.

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Finder is an online comparison resource dedicated to helping people make better economic decisions.

The survey, which was commissioned by Finder and conducted by Qualtrics/SAP from January 9 to February 17, 2023 asked participants whether they made a purchase while under the influence of alcohol in the last 12 months and how much they spent.