NRF: Father’s Day spending expected to be down
Washington, D.C. Americans are expected to spend an average of $90.89 on gifts for Father’s Day, down slightly from $94.54 last year, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2009 Father’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch. Total spending is expected to reach $9.4 billion.
The survey found people will spend the most ($1.9 billion) on a special outing, such as a dinner or a sporting event. Clothing also ranks high among gift givers who are expected to shell out $1.3 billion on new socks, slacks and ties. Others will treat dad to a gift card ($1.2 billion), electronics ($1.0 billion) books or CDs ($548 million), home-improvement items ($522 million) and sporting goods ($502 million).
Discount and department stores will be going head-to-head this Father’s Day as 33.9% of Americans plan on shopping at discounters and 33.7% will shop at department stores. Others will head to specialty stores such as electronics and home-improvement stores (26.8%), online (17.9%), at specialty clothing stores (6.1%) or through a catalog (2.8%).
When it comes to who is getting gifts this year, the majority of people said they will only buy for their father/stepfather (51.1%). Husbands (28.6%), sons (7.6%), grandfathers (4.7%) and brothers (5.1%) will also see gifts from family members.