Consumers Anticipate Spending More This Holiday Season
November 13, 2015 | The Conference BoardEstimated reading time: 1 minute
U.S. households plan to spend an average of $576 on gifts this holiday season, up from $538 last year, The Conference Board reports today. About 11 percent of consumers say they plan to spend more this year on holiday gifts, up from about 8 percent last year, while approximately 27 percent plan to spend less, down from 32 percent. The remaining 62 percent plan to spend about the same as last year.
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®.
“Continued job growth, low gas prices, and a relatively confident consumer will help boost retail sales this holiday season,” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “While this season is shaping up to surpass last year’s, consumers are still unwilling to pay full price for gifts. The majority say they will be on the lookout for bargains and incentives.”
More than three out of every five holiday shoppers say they expect at least a quarter of their purchases to be on sale or discounted. And, the number of consumers shopping online continues to grow. Nearly three-quarters say they expect to purchase at least some of their holiday gifts online, while more than one out of four say more than half of their gifts will be purchased 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. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States.
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands.
Suggested Items
2025 ASEAN IT Spending Growth Slows to 5.9% as AI-Powered IT Expansion Encounters Post-Boom Normalization
06/26/2025 | IDCAccording to the IDC Worldwide Black Book: Live Edition, IT spending across ASEAN is projected to grow by 5.9% in 2025 — down from a robust 15.0% in 2024.
Rethinking How Operators Interface With the Line
06/11/2025 | Nolan Johnson, SMT007 MagazineJurgen Schmerler, CEO of WaveOn, reveals how AI and large language models are revolutionizing electronics manufacturing. By integrating AI with machinery, operators can access real-time, multimodal information for troubleshooting and maintenance, significantly reducing training time and enhancing efficiency. He discusses the industry's challenges, the customizable knowledge bases, and the future of proactive maintenance and process control.
Standards: The Roadmap for Your Ideal Data Package
05/29/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineIn this interview, IPC design instructor Kris Moyer explains how standards can help you ensure that your data package has all the information your fabricator and assembler need to build your board the way you designed it, allowing them to use their expertise. As Kris says, even with IPC standards, there’s still an art to conveying the right information in your documentation.
Future-proofing Electronics: ChemFORWARD Works Toward Collaboration for Safer Chemistry
05/19/2025 | Rachel Simon, ChemFORWARDThe electronics industry is facing a critical juncture. As consumer demand for sustainable products rises and regulatory pressures intensify, companies must prioritize the safety of their products and processes. This means not only complying with evolving chemical restrictions but also proactively seeking safer alternatives.
CACI’s Mission-Critical Technology will Accelerate the Delivery of Electronic Warfighting Capabilities to the U.S. Navy’s Existing Fleet
05/13/2025 | CACI International Inc.CACI International Inc announced today that it has been awarded additional work by the U.S. Navy to procure enhancements to the current fielded Shipboard Information Warfare Exploit system under its existing contract for Spectral, a next-generation shipboard signals intelligence (SIGINT), electronic warfare (EW), and information operations (IO) weapon system.