According to a survey from The NPD Group, consumers will look more to online shopping this holiday season, as overall spending looks to be about the same as it was last year.
The NPD Group found that 9 percent plan to spend more this holiday season, unchanged from the 9 percent who said the same last year. Meanwhile, 64 percent said they plan to spend about the same as they did last year, up from 61 percent in 2010. Another 27 percent said they plan to spend less than they did last year, down from 30 percent in 2010.
“With more consumers telling us they plan to ‘spend about the same’ and no additional consumers planning to ‘spend more,’ I think we will see this holiday’s results look quite a bit like last holiday’s,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group.
Forty-one percent of consumers say they plan to start their holiday shopping on Thanksgiving weekend or later, compared to 40 percent last year, according to The NPD Group.
With a 43 percent response, clothing is the top item category consumers plan to shop for this holiday season, up from 42 percent in 2010.
Toys followed with a 31 percent response, down from 32 percent in 2010. Books is third with 20 percent, down from 23 percent in 2010.
Movies/DVDs (19 percent, down form 24 percent), accessories (16 percent, unchanged), electronics (15 percent, down from 16 percent), food (14 percent, down from 15 percent), fragrances (14 percent, up from 13 percent), music (13 percent, down from 14 percent), and video gaming systems or video games (13 percent, down from 15 percent) rounded out the list of the top 10 items on consumers’ shopping lists.
Discount stores are the most popular planned destination for holiday shopping in 2011 with a 51 percent response, down from 54 percent last year. Online got a 38 percent response, up from 35 percent in 2010. National chains got a 29 percent response, unchanged from last year.
Department stores (24 percent, up from 22 percent), toy stores (20 percent, unchanged), warehouse clubs (18 percent, up from 17 percent), electronics stores (17 percent, down from 19 percent), outlet stores (17 percent, up from 16 percent), clothing specialty stores (15 percent, unchanged), and catalogs/mail order (14 percent, up from 12 percent) rounded out the list of the top 10 shopping destinations.
According to a separate forecast from the National retail Federation, holiday retail sales are expected to increase 2.8 percent to $465.6 billion.
Sources:
http://www.thenpdgroup.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_111004a
http://nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1206
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