Survey says 40 percent of shoppers plan to start holiday gift-shopping before Halloween

WASHINGTON The National Retail Federation today released results of its 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, run by BIGresearch, showing that the average American holiday shopper plans to spend more than $800 each on holiday shopping.

The NRF’s survey results showed that 40.2 percent of consumers said that they will begin  holiday shopping before Halloween and survey respondents plan to spend about $832 on average on holiday items. This average reflects only a 1.9 percent increase over last year’s average total: $816.69. It’s the lowest anticipated spending increase NFR launched its survey in 2002.

Forty percent of survey respondents said that sales and/or promotions is the biggest lure to where they will shop, while 12.6 percent said they will seek “everyday low-prices.” Only 5.6 percent said they would choose holiday shopping locations based on convenience and 5.2 said it depends on customer service.

NRF president and chief executive officer, Tracy Mullin, said, “Retailers are going into this holiday season with their eyes wide open, knowing that savings and promotions will be the main incentive for shoppers. No one is canceling Christmas because money is tight, but consumers will be sticking to their budgets and looking for good deals when deciding where to spend this holiday season.”

Survey repondents also said they would spend about $51.43 each on decorations, $32.43 for greeting cards and postage, $95.04 on candy and food and $22.61 on flowers. The Internet has seen steady rates of shoppers: 44.2 percent of the shoppers in the survey said they were buying gifts online, flat from 44.3 last year. NRF has said that it predicts holiday sales to increase 2.2 percent over last year, for a total of $470.4 billion.