Memorial Day sales go live early as shoppers hunt selective deals
Memorial Day deals were already live Saturday, but shoppers plan to spend just $86 on average, far below last year’s $289. Real bargains are concentrating in seasonal categories.
Memorial Day discounts were already live, and the holiday is turning into a test of whether shoppers can separate real markdowns from inflated percentage-off claims. With Memorial Day falling on Monday, May 25, 2026, retailers opened the sales early, betting that consumers would start comparing prices before the long weekend even began.
The numbers show a more cautious buyer than last year. RetailMeNot’s survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults found 54% planned to buy something during Memorial Day sales in 2026, up from 36% in 2025. But the average planned spend fell sharply, from $289 last year to $86 this year, a sign that shoppers are more likely to chase one or two targeted bargains than fill carts with impulse buys. Another 35% said they are very likely to wait for Memorial Day sales before making a major purchase, while 31% said they are somewhat likely.
That makes the category mix especially important. RetailMeNot’s top Memorial Day shopping categories were grills and outdoor cooking gear, summer apparel, home goods and decor, pool and beach gear, electronics, home improvement supplies, patio decor, outdoor furniture and appliances. The strongest value is likely to be found in the seasonal merchandise that retailers want to clear before summer demand peaks, especially grills, patio furniture and pool gear. Those are the categories where a real discount is more likely to mean inventory clearance rather than a short-lived promotion designed to create urgency.
The risk for shoppers is that some “deals” are built more on pricing psychology than actual savings. A steep percentage off does not guarantee the best price if the original tag was inflated first or if a product has been bouncing around in price for weeks. The better test is whether the sale price beats the item’s recent selling history, not whether the discount sounds large on a banner ad. That matters most in categories like apparel and electronics, where algorithmic pricing and fast-moving promotions can make a deal look deeper than it is.
The holiday still has broad spending power. PwC found 34% of adults planned to travel over Memorial Day weekend, with average travel spending of $898, and 71% said they expect to spend the same or more on summer travel than last year. AAA projected 45 million Americans would travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday, May 21 and Monday, May 25, including 39.1 million by car and 3.66 million by air. AAA also said the national average gasoline price reached $4.56 a gallon on May 21, the highest Memorial Day weekend level in four years and about $1.38 above the same period in 2025.
That combination of heavier travel costs and lower planned retail spending suggests Memorial Day remains a durable shopping moment, but a more selective one. Placer.ai’s 2025 traffic data showed the weekend lifted retail visits, especially in apparel and grocery, even as overall brick-and-mortar traffic was flat year over year, underscoring how much of the holiday’s power now depends on precise, credible discounts rather than broad consumer splurges.
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