SALT LAKE CITY – While Utah retailers may be wishing and hoping for massive receipts during the upcoming holiday season, the Beehive State’s shoppers are becoming more and more connected to the Internet.
That’s the conclusion of a recent 48-state study by Kindred Press, which ranked Utah as the seventh state most obsessed with online shopping in the nation.
“Utahns are clearly comfortable with shopping online,” according to Dawson Whitfield, the founder of Kindred Press.
“When almost everyone has a phone or laptop within reach, the ‘store’ never closes,” he adds.
That observation might spell trouble ahead for local retailers, many of whom are heavily dependent on holiday sales revenue at their brick and mortar locations to balance their books.
Excluding Hawaii and Alaska, the Kindred study compared states in the continental U.S. across ten metrics, including the share of adult Internet users who shop online; the share of residents making more purchases online; Internet and device use; and Google search interest in shopping at websites like Amazon, Temu, SHEIN and Walmart.
The Beehive State’s biggest strength is how connected its residents are, Whitfield says. Utah ties with Maryland for the highest device use in the country, with 78.1% of residents using a laptop, phone or computer. It also ranks fifth for the share of adult Internet users who shop online at 82.7%, well above the national average figure of 75.8%.
Interestingly, Utahns aren’t one of the nation’s biggest searchers for bargain retailers, Whitfield explains. The state ranks 19th for online searches on SHEIN, 26th for searches on Temu and 44th for searches on Amazon, suggesting that Beehive State residents already know where they’re shopping, rather than hunting for the next low-priced deal.
Despite economic uncertainties, U.S. consumers seem poised to go all in this holiday season, according to new research from the Visa Business and Economic Insights (VBEI) forecast. Holiday retail sales are expected to rise 4.5 percent in November and December, the strongest growth since 2021.
Consumers report planning to spend an average of $777 on holiday gifts this year, up from $736 in 2025, an increase of 5.6 percent.
Roughly one-third of consumers earning less than $100,000 say, however, that they plan to shop competitively for lower-cost brands of gifts compared to last year, with much of that shopping likely taking place online.
While the obvious benefit of online shopping is a wide selection of goods to choose from, Whitfield cautions that the practice also has its risks.
“Being a confident online shopper and being a careful one aren’t the same thing,” he emphasizes. “Stick to sites you know, pay with a credit card rather than a debit card and keep your order confirmations until the package is actually in your hands.”
The complete ranking of the Kindred Press study can be found by going online to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eARL1gE21GOwVwIflXWciWegFmBRYPToNloz5oE9YiI/edit?gid=1115855658#gid=1115855658
Nationally, New Hampshire ranks as the most online shopping-obsessed state, followed by Wyoming, Colorado, Vermont and Washington. At the other end of the study spectrum, Mississippi ranks last alone with Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and West Virginia.
Kindred Press is an online seller of printed books and artwork that combine smart technology with everyday memorabilia to create gifts that feel personal and keepsake-worthy.
More information about Kindred Press products can be found by going online to https://www.kindredpress.com/