An Accenture report adds a fresh twist to the outlook for holiday shopping this year: Consumers will be in the stores early, but they may leave empty-handed when they don't find deep discounts of the sort that proliferated last year.

Polling last month found 69 percent of respondents saying they expect to have the "bulk" of their holiday shopping completed by Dec. 7, up from 60 percent saying the same last year. And more than half (52 percent) said they expect to be shopping on Black Friday, as the day after Thanksgiving has come to be known in retail circles, up from 42 percent last year.

The catch is that shoppers will arrive at the store expecting to see the sort of price-cutting that characterized last year's Christmas-shopping seasons, when marketers tried to lure consumers still in shock from that autumn's financial meltdown. Eighty-six percent of Accenture's respondents said they "will not be moved to buy without a discount of at least 20 percent," according to the research firm's report of the findings, "and a quarter of shoppers will be looking for an aggressive 50 percent discount before they open their wallets." Indeed, 36 percent of respondents said "they would search for and buy mostly or all discounted items."

It's a bad sign that such surveys now include a question about which potential recipients are likely to get stiffed. Fifty-two percent of Accenture's respondents said they're likely to cut spending on gifts for friends, while 51 percent said the same about extended family and 49 percent about spouses/partners. Fewer (35 percent) said they'll reduce their spending on gifts for kids.

Given consumers' determination not to overspend, it's unsurprising that most of the respondents (85 percent) said they'll shop at discount retailers. By contrast, 45 percent said they'll shop at department stores, while just 5 perent intend to darken the doors of luxury-goods retailers. Online shopping will be a big factor this holiday season, with 64 percent of respondents saying they'll do some buying in that venue. And among these e-shoppers, 46 percent said they expect to spend more than half their gift-buying dollars online.

Gift cards will get plenty of attention, with 79 percent of respondents saying they plan to buy them this year. But the recipients won't necessarily use the cards to splurge: 25 percent said they'd use gift cards "to buy regular, staple products rather than treating themselves to something more expensive."

See also: "When Should Xmas-Shopping Ads Begin?"