text:  focusing mostly on the essentials. Consumer spending has often been surprisingly strong in the face of inflation, but a lot of those purchases were made with credit cards, and that's starting to add up, says Jane Halley's Jessica Ramirez. Consumers have really accumulated debt during this time, so again, that's still something that's sitting on their plate. Retail has also been hurt by another trend, says Lupin Skelly at Deloitte. Those who do have some extra money to throw around aren't necessarily shopping.