NRF Holiday Survey: Consumers to spend second-highest amount on record
Consumers plan to spend $890.49 per person on average this year on holiday gifts, food, decorations and other seasonal items.
That’s according to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The amount is the second-highest in the survey’s 23-year history and is 1.3% less than last year’s record of $901.99. The increase comes as 85% of consumers are expecting higher prices because of tariffs.
Out of the total, $627.93 will go to gifts for family and friends. The remaining $262.56 will be used on seasonal items such as food or candy, decorations and greeting cards.
In other findings, 42% of shoppers plan to begin browsing and buying for the holiday season before November. However, nearly two-thirds (63%) plan to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to do most of their holiday shopping, up from 59% last year. And 60% anticipate they will finish shopping in December.
“Despite consumers’ economic concerns, the winter holidays remain an important occasion to celebrate with loved ones,” said Prosper executive VP of strategy Phil Rist. “This is particularly true for those families with children who are expected to increase their gift budgets by more than $30 on average.”
Other survey findings are below.
•Online continues to be the top holiday shopping destination, with 55% planning to make purchases digitally. That is followed by grocery stores (46%), department stores (44%) and discount stores (42%).
•The top gifts consumers would like to receive include gift cards (50%), clothing or accessories (46%), books and other media (27%), personal care or beauty items (23%) and electronics (22%).
•Nearly all U.S. adults (91%) plan to celebrate winter holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa this year, in line with recent years.
The survey asked 8,247 adult consumers about their holiday shopping plans. It was conducted Oct. 1-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage point.
