Consumers to take cautious approach to Holiday shopping

Though shoppers still plan to spend more on the holidays this year than last, consumers say their spending will be a bit restrained this holiday season. According to NRF's 2007 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of 816.69 on holiday-related shopping. In addition, these shoppers will spend an additional 106.67 on special "non-gift" purchases by taking advantage of special promotions and discounts to treat themselves. This brings total planned holiday-related spending to 923.36, an increase of 3.7% from 2006 and in line with NRF's economic forecast of 4%.

Discounters can expect the most traffic as 68.4% of consumers plan to shop there (compared to 70.3% in 2006). Department Stores will also see a lion's share of traffic as 58.2% will choose this format (vs. 61.6% last year). Other popular destinations include grocery stores (44.6% in 2007 vs. 49.3% in 2006) and online (44.3% in 2007 vs. 47.1% in 2006).

The Internet will once again play a crucial role for retailers this holiday season as consumers, on average, plan to do 30.2% of their shopping online compared to 28.9% in 2006.

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