There’s still some hope for a final holiday sales surge, as the average consumer has completed only 64.7% of his or her gift shopping, according to a survey for the National Retailer Federation conducted this week by BIGresearch. The survey, conducted from Tuesday to Thursday, polled 4,117 consumers who intend to shop for the holidays, BIGresearch says.
Those most likely to have procrastinated include men and consumers aged 18-34, with 24.2% of each group yet to begin shopping for holiday gifts, the survey says. In all, 44.5 million consumers have not started shopping for the holidays. A similar BIGresearch survey from a week ago estimated that 41 million consumers had not yet begun shopping. That discrepancy is a function of the margin of error in the two surveys, says Pam Goodfellow, senior analyst at BIGresearch. “The important thing is that in both surveys about 20% of the consumer base hasn’t started shopping,” she says.
However, 30.1% of those surveyed this week say they have completed their shopping, a sharp increase from the week-earlier survey which showed only about 8% of consumers were done shopping. Goodfellow says it appears many of those shoppers completed their gift-buying last weekend.
The survey suggests many consumers may be shopping in the next few days, which would be welcome news for both web and store merchants. “With so much shopping left to do, the weekend before Christmas will be one of the most important periods of the year for retailers,” says NRF president and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Retailers will try to make last-minute shopping easier for holiday procrastinators by offering incredible promotions and gift ideas within a certain budget or for a specific person.”
The big question for retailers is whether consumers will forgo much or all of their usual holiday shopping this year because of the economic crisis. A survey by market research firm IDC found 90% of consumers plan to purchase gifts during the holiday season, and 62% plan to spend as much or more than last year on gifts for family members. However, 38% plan to spend less on gifts for co-workers, according to the online survey of 3,000 consumers conducted Dec. 1-8.
Retailers targeting younger consumers can take heart from a poll conducted at quiz site Quibblo.com that found 48% of teens and pre-teens surveyed plan to spend about the same amount on gifts this year, 28% more and 14% less. 59% say they plan to shop in stores and 31% both online and in stores, according to the survey by Pangea Media, a company that specializes in online quizzes and quiz technology.
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