Some are also constrained by income. In response, 27% said they will be taking up a side hustle this year in order to fund their holiday spending and 10% plan to shop using  "buy now, pay later" options.

The survey also found:

• Over 37% said they are buying fewer gives than normal because of supply shortages.
• 31% have chosen to shop in-person at local/small businesses to try to circumvent the delays.
• Many respondents said they are worried they won't be able to purchase specific items due to supply chain disruptions including electronics/tech (36%), clothing (30%), toys (26%), and seasonal food items (38%).

The survey results were gathered via an online questionnaire conducted by Opinium Research for the credit union November 8-22 for the adults in the Philadelphia metro area, which includes southeast Pennsylvania along with parts of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

Also on Thursday, CO-OP Financial Services, the payments CUSO based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., released an analysis of card transaction data from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday 2021 that found only slight increases in online gift shopping from a year ago, but higher spending on travel.

Beth Phillips, CO-OP's managing director of strategic portfolio growth, said travel spending increased aggregate interchange income by more than fivefold for CO-OP's card issuing credit union partners.

"It's clear credit union members were anxious to rejoin their families and friends in celebration of the holiday this year, often prioritizing getting together over online shopping," Phillips said.

Although Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales growth remained on the smaller side, CO-OP's analysis revealed a few merchant category winners: computers were up 64%, retail up 42% and digital goods up 40%.

"The increase in computer sales is interesting," said Phillips. "We're likely seeing a couple of trends play out there, namely fears over lingering chip shortages and the continuation of work- and learn-from-home circumstances in various pockets throughout the country."

Out-of-stock messages in November 2021 were more than three times greater than in November 2019, with electronics being among the highest categories of out-of-stock goods.

CO-OP also found a shift from debit purchases to credit purchases. Retail purchases by credit card were 42% higher than a year ago, while debit purchases rose just 4%. Debit purchases on Amazon declined for the third year in a row, which CO-OP said suggested "consumers are more comfortable shopping at this major online retailer with a credit card."

While the number of credit transactions only outpaced debit transactions by 2%, credit generated a 17% year-over-year increase in interchange vs. debit's 10% increase.

Meanwhile, the Fed's G-19 Consumer Credit Report released Tuesday showed credit unions continued to increase their credit card balances in October, but the balance remains 4.6% lower than in February 2020, the month before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.

Credit unions held $62.3 billion in credit card balances on Oct. 31, up 2.1% from a year earlier and up 1.2% from September.