Consumers Continue to Procrastinate as Christmas Approaches, According to NRF
Monday, 18 December 2006
Consumers are still showing their tendency to be notorious procrastinators when it comes to holiday shopping, according to NRF’s 2006 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch.
Though an impressive 23 million consumers (10.8 percent) have completely finished their holiday shopping, more than 33 million shoppers (15.4 percent) admit they haven’t even started. Thus far, the average person has completed 53.1 percent of his or her shopping, compared to 54.6 percent at this time last year.
The survey also found that men are still more likely to end up shopping last minute with 17.8 percent stating they have not begun their holiday shopping, compared to 13.1 percent of women.
“With Christmas falling on a Monday this year, retailers have one more weekend to bring in those holiday procrastinators,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “In the predictably chaotic days before Christmas, retailers will be ready and waiting for the final rush of the season.”
This week is bound to be a big one for department stores, as almost half of shoppers (47.6 percent) stated they would head to a department store to finish their shopping. One third (33.9 percent) will shop online and head to specialty stores (33.3 percent). Only 39.0 percent of last-minute shoppers will head to discounters to finish their lists, a large drop from the 70.3 percent of consumers who planned to shop at discounters earlier this holiday season.
In addition, department stores continue to bring in young adults, as many of 18-24 year-olds (60.9 percent) say they will be shopping at a department store this week. Nearly half (47.5 percent) said they would finish their shopping online and go to specialty stores (45.7 percent).
“We have seen what a great job department stores have done this year bringing in the younger shopper with private labels, flashy advertising and quality merchandise,” said Vice President of Strategy at BIGresearch Phil Rist. “With just a few days until Christmas, retailers will have to continue their aggressive promotions to get the attention of the young adult shopper.”
Of those who have started their holiday shopping, 44.7 percent said they have already bought books, CDs, DVDs, videos or video games. The majority (47.0 percent) bought clothing or clothing accessories, 37.6 percent bought toys and 29.5 percent bought gift cards/certificates.