Are You a Last Minute Shopper? - December 16, 2008

Have you made your list, checked it twice, found out who’s been naughty or nice? With a little over a week to go until Christmas, countless Americans have put off holiday shopping until the very last minute.

In a report released by the National Retail Foundation (NRF) earlier today, the survey showed that more than 47% of consumers have completed their holiday shopping. That compares to last year’s tally of nearly 53% of consumers who had already completed the majority of their shopping.

In another survey conducted by BIGresearch, their findings showed that only 8% of consumers have completed their holiday shopping. Without much surprise, men appear to be the biggest procrastinators, with nearly 21% of men haven not even stated their shopping.

As the season draws nearer, the hot spots for sales will come mainly from discount and department stores. However, there will be a large majority of shoppers that will execute their shopping needs online. In fact, more than 40% of last-minute shoppers will do business online, up from last year’s figure of almost 35% of shoppers.

BIGresearch also went on to say that with the growing economic crisis and the state of the financial environment, most shoppers this year will be using more cash and shying away from credit purchases. Thus far, their report showed that of the purchases already made, some 66% of them have used cash, debit cards or personal checks.

"Most Americans have put themselves on a budget this holiday season and are sticking to it," said Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategic initiatives at BIGresearch. "Retailers are finding that consumers who pay with cash or a debit card may be less likely to make impulse purchases, but recognize that these shoppers are also trying to put themselves in a better financial situation to spend in the future."

Another sign of a weakened economy lays with the decrease in gift card purchases. With gift cards being one of the fastest growing categories over the holiday season, experts see purchases for gift card slipping to 24%, down from last year’s tally of 30% of holiday buys.

A contributing factor to the decrease in gift cards could be increase in bankruptcy filings by retailers over the past several months. Included in those filings would be the likes of KB Toys and Circuit City. If a consumer is skeptical about the current business model of a retailer, then most likely that person is not going to buy a gift card from them.

With five fewer days this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the holiday season is quickly approaching its end. Retailers will do all they can to accommodate the last-minute shopper by staffing more employees, extending shopping hours and posting countless sales and promotional advertising to get more shoppers in their stores.

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