On The Cheap On Xmas?

If companies expect holiday spending to put their numbers in the black for the year, they may be in for a disappointment.A recent survey conducted by The NPD Group detects muted enthusiasm on the part of consumers for lavish spending on presents this year. According to the Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm, just 12 percent of consumers expect to shell out more on holiday gifts this year than they did last year. Eighteen percent plan to spend less, and 69 percent anticipate spending about as much this year as last. On average, respondents said they will spend $655 on holiday gifts this year—up from $637 in last year's poll. Overall, men expect to spend a bit more than women ($666 vs. $644), although men intend to spend twice as much as women on electronics items.Marketers can take some solace from the poll's findings among respondents with yearly incomes of $75,000-plus. According to the survey, conducted last month by NPD, these consumers on average expect to spend $966 on their gift purchases. Fourteen percent of them said they plan to spend more this year than last. A larger number (17 percent) said they plan to spend less this year than last, but they may not follow through on that thrifty intention. The survey found that 27 percent of the $75,000-plus respondents ended up spending more last year than they intended, while just 6 percent said they spent less. Among the categories in which the upper-income consumers believe they will buy gifts this holiday season are clothes (cited by 69 percent), toys (53 percent), movies (51 percent), books (51 percent), music (43 percent), jewelry (35 percent), fragrances (30 percent) and electronics (15 percent).For consumers in general, the prevailing mood of austerity will affect their choice of venues for holiday shopping. Seventy-two percent said they expect to shop in discount stores, while just 26 percent will shop at department stores. Bad news for kids: Just one-third of respondents said they expect to shop in toy stores this year. Many people will do at least some of their shopping from home, as 41 percent said they expect to buy holiday gifts online this year. Indeed, 24 percent said they will purchase as many of their gifts online as they can. The Internet has not displaced catalogs, though: 33 percent of women and 26 percent of men said they expect to make holiday purchases via catalogs this year. When it comes to picking specific retailers, 44 percent of respondents said they will be greatly influenced by print ads and circulars. Among other influential factors are whether the store "makes me feel like a valued customer" (37 percent), "carries well-known brands" (35 percent), "carries unique products or brands" (27 percent) and "offers gift certificates" (26 percent).If people are not eager to spend big bucks on holiday shopping this year, that does not necessarily mean they will procrastinate about getting the requisite gifts. In fact, 27 percent claimed they have already begun their shopping. Another 24 percent intend to get started before Thanksgiving. Thirty-two percent said they will likely end up doing some of their shopping at the last minute. Still, they will have a head start on the 4 percent who said they will not even begin their holiday shopping until the last minute.

Brand Marketing

On The Cheap On Xmas?

Mark Dolliver

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Mark Dolliver