Until now, the pace of holiday shopping was similar to years past, but Consumer Reports latest poll found a significant slowdown in shopping. As of December 7, only 56 percent of consumers have begun their holiday shopping. That is down from 62 percent at this time last year and down more than 10 percentage points from 2006.
The last three weeks of the year could be frantic for many shoppers. Over one-quarter (29%) of consumers do not anticipate finishing their holiday shopping until December 23 or later. One-in-ten shoppers don't anticipate finishing their shopping until the evening of December 24.
"If there's an upside to the sour economic picture, it's that consumers have ample opportunity to score a bargain. Budgets are tight and shoppers are waiting up to the last minute to make sure they've explored every opportunity to find a good deal," said Tod Marks, senior, project editor, Consumer Reports Tightwad TodBlog.
Finding the Best Deals:
Over one-quarter (26%) of consumers who have started shopping feel the deals are better than last year, compared with 13 percent who feel they are worse. Consistent with last year, the bulk of the shopping traffic is to the mass merchandisers (76%) like Wal-Mart and Target, followed by department stores (54%) and online retailers (48%).
This season shoppers told Consumer Reports they are finding the best deals online. Online retailers (50%) have pulled even with mass merchandisers (49%) this season in terms of where shoppers are finding their best deals.
Holiday Spending: Will it be Cash, Debit, Charge, or Lay-Away?
- Cash is still the most commonly used form of payment (76%), leading both debit cards (51%) and credit cards (50%) by a wide margin. However, the use of credit cards to pay for holiday gifts has jumped 5 percentage points and the use of Debit cards has jumped 11 percentage points since last year. Also, 7 percent of consumers plan to use lay-away services this year.
- While shoppers plan to use credit cards more this season than last year, the average amount they plan to charge on the card for holiday gifts has dropped to $682 from $723 a year ago.
- This season holiday shoppers expect to spend an average of $740, with 21 percent planning to spend $1,000 or more. The biggest spenders are married men, who plan on spending approximately $998 on gifts.
- The pressure is on to open store credit cards. Nearly half (48%) of holiday shoppers told Consumer Reports they were pressured to open a store card in order to save money on their purchase. Women (52%) and younger consumers (57%) were the most often pressured.
- Consumers may want to think twice before opening a store card to save a few bucks. Among the 8 percent of consumers who opened a card last holiday season: 46 percent never used the card again, 24 percent regretted opening the account, and 20 percent incurred high finance charges or penalties.
- Consumers are more ambitious this year about paying off holiday debt. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of credit card users plan to pay of holiday debt by the end of January, but close to one-quarter (22%) do not plan to have this year's debt paid until March or later. Last year 53 percent of credit card users paid off their holiday debt by the end of January. But, nearly one-third (31%) were still paying their bill in March or later and 13 percent still had not paid off their holiday debt by six months after the holiday season.
- Overall, the average number of gifts consumers will purchase this year remains consistent with last year at 14. Married women still plan to buy the most gifts at nearly 16, but that is three gifts less than last season. Men still buy the fewest gifts (12).
Online Shopping rising; Expedited delivery falling
- Consumer Reports polls found that online sales activity may be rising in the coming weeks. More than one-third (35%) of holiday shoppers plan on making one or more online purchases between now and the holidays. Most (93%) online shoppers will wrap up their online purchases by December 23, though 6 percent still plan to make purchases afterwards.
- While last minute online shopping is increasing, paying for expedited shipping is growing less popular. This season only 19 percent of holiday shoppers plan to pay for expedited shipping services - significantly less than the 31 percent in 2006.
Post Holiday Shopping and Gift Returns
- According to Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll, December 25 will not mark the end of the shopping season. The week between Christmas and New Years will attract 44 percent of consumers to the stores. Post holiday sales continue to be the biggest draw (83%).
- Buying gifts for yourself after the holidays is less popular this year. While two-thirds (66%) of after-holiday shoppers will be searching for items for themselves, that is down from last season when over three-quarters (76%) of after-holiday shoppers were buying for themselves.
- Nearly one-fifth (19%) of consumers plan on returning some of the gifts they received. Men (22%) and younger consumers, age 18-34 (29%) are most likely to have at least one return.
- Nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers can identify a "worst gift" giver on their list: Parents/In-laws (17%) and Friends/Co-workers (16%) top the complaints as the worst holiday gift givers.
