Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

New York - Nearly four-in-10 Americans (38%) plan to spend less this holiday season than they did last year, while 14% plan to spend more this year and 47% plan to spend about the same amount as last year. According to a new Bankrate.com report, Americans planning to spend less outnumber those planning to spend more in each age and income group.

It promises to be a mad dash to the finish for the nation’s retailers this week with half of holiday shoppers planning to wrap up their holiday shopping online and nearly one third of shoppers yet to begin spending, according to the latest survey results from the National Retail Federation.

Arlington, Va. -- Sales of gift cards in 2013 are expected to surpass $118 billion in sales, an 8% increase from 2012. CEB Tower Report research suggests that the widespread adoption of e-gifting, which experienced rapid growth from $300 million in 2012 to a predicted $3 billion in 2013, will provide scale for continued industry gains through 2016.

More Americans now say they are loosening the purse strings in advance of the holiday season, and fewer say they are tightening their belts, according to a recent Citi national survey.

Only 35% said they would be spending less than last year, reflecting the lowest level of holiday budget cutbacks since the financial crisis. As many as 63% of Americans plan to spend more (11%) or the same (52%) on holiday shopping this year.

Eight-in-10 (77%) consumers would be willing to share their smartphone location data as long as they received enough value in return.

A new study from in-store mobile marketing platform provider Swirl also revealed that consumers are much more likely to entrust their location information to their favorite retailers (65%) than to shopping/deals apps, Google or Facebook.

Washington, D.C. -- The average holiday shopper had completed half (49.9%) of their shopping, slightly less than the 56.5% they’d completed by this time last year, boding well for retailers who are preparing for a very big holiday shopping weekend, according to the National Retail Federation’s latest holiday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Specifically, 32 million or 14% say they have not even started, while another 20 million, or 8.9%  say they are already finished.

Last week Walmart made headlines when it opened two stores in Washington D.C., drawing a small group of protestors and countless customers. But it seems like these Walmart locations are not quite like the others. BuzzFeed compiled a list of 19 things that make D.C.’s first Walmart stores stand out from the rest.

Click here to read the list.

Retail sales in November increased a better-than-expected 0.7% seasonally-adjusted month-to-month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The figure includes categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants.

Analysts were expecting sales to rise 0.6% in last month. The latest retail sales numbers were 4.7% above November 2012 numbers.