Consumers Plan to Spend About the Same as Last Year on Holiday Gifts

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U.S. households plan to spend an average of $563 on gifts this holiday season, down slightly from $576 last year, The Conference Board reports today. And consumers are once again not willing to pay full price. More than 60% expect at least a quarter of their purchases to be on sale or discounted.

The survey of holiday gift spending intentions, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The survey was conducted for The Conference Board in October as part of the Consumer Confidence Survey®.

Approximately 9% of consumers plan to spend more this year on holiday gifts, compared with 11% last year. Sixty-four percent plan to spend about the same as last year. The remaining 27% say they plan to spend less than last year.

“Continued job and wage growth, and a confident consumer are likely to make this another good holiday season for retailers,” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “This season is shaping up to mirror last year’s, with consumers unwilling to pay full price for gifts, and with bargains and incentives driving their spending decisions.”

The number of consumers shopping online continues to grow. More than three-quarters say they expect to purchase at least some of their holiday gifts online. More than a third plan to purchase at last half their gifts online.

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world’s leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. T 

ABOUT NIELSEN

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen's Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services for all devices on which content — video, audio and text — is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry's only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen also provides its clients with analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90 percent of the world’s population.