Christmas Shopping Stats and Predictions

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Christmas Shopping Stats and Predictions

I got the following research in my pile of email today. How does your family stack up?

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Conservative Shopping Expected For The Holidays

According to NRF's 2007 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, shoppers still plan to spend more on the holidays this year than last, but consumers say their spending will be a bit restrained this holiday season. The NRF forecast for the upcoming 2007 holiday season, predicts that sales will rise 4.0 percent this year to $474.5 billion.

U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $816.69 on holiday-related shopping. In addition, these shoppers will spend an additional $106.67 on special "non-gift" purchases by taking advantage of special promotions and discounts to treat themselves.

This brings total planned holiday-related spending to $923.36, an increase of 3.7 percent from 2006 and in line with NRF's economic forecast of 4.0 percent. The 2007 holiday sales increase, says the NRF, is expected to fall below the ten-year average of 4.8 percent, which would represent the slowest holiday sales growth since 2002, when sales rose only 1.3 percent.

NRF President and CEO, Tracy Mullin, said "Shoppers will be a little more conservative with their spending as they become more aware of the softness in the economy... many retailers will be competing on price, causing this holiday season to be very promotional... a tremendous win for consumers."

While the traditional kickoff to the holiday season is Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), 40.3 percent of shoppers will begin holiday shopping before Halloween, says the report. In fact, Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch, says "... shoppers... are already looking to purchase greeting cards, wrapping paper and a variety of gifts."

Discounters can expect the most shopping traffic as 68.4% of consumers plan to shop there (compared to 70.3% in 2006)

Department Stores will also see a lion's share of traffic as 58.2% will choose this format (vs. 61.6 percent last year)

Grocery store Christmas shopping traffic to be 44.6% in 2007 vs. 49.3% in 2006

Online shoppers expected to be 44.3% of shoppers in 2007 vs. 47.1% in 2006

Consumers, on average, plan to do 30.2% of their shopping online compared to 28.9% in 2006.

As expected, most holiday budgets will be allocated to gifts, with the average person spending

$469.14 on family

$90.13 on friends

$22.79 on co-workers

$37.45 on other people like clergy, teachers, and babysitters

The survey also found that most Americans plan to increase spending on

Flowers $20.53 vs. $18.98 last year