Washington, November 17, 2008 – Though the majority of consumers have not even put a dent in their shopping list, traditional winter apparel and personal, inexpensive items like DVDs, CDs and books will be the first things they stock up on as they begin their holiday shopping. According to NRF’s 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, 72.0 percent of consumers have completed less than 10 percent of their shopping, compared with 2.2 percent of shoppers who say they have completely finished.

“Americans may be hesitant to purchase expensive gifts this holiday season, but personal and practical gifts will resonate most with shoppers this year,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Though many companies have already been featuring substantial sales and discounts, retailers may still have a few tricks up their sleeves to attract and entice holiday shoppers.”

The survey found that consumers will shop in similar gift categories as last year, with clothing and accessories (57.4%) and books, CDs, DVDs and video games (55.6%) topping the list. Other popular gifts will include new game systems, Blu-ray DVD players and other electronic items (30.0%), toys (41.6%), gift cards/gift certificates (53.5%), personal care or beauty items (20.8%) and jewelry (19.3%).

Though many consumers are struggling, most will not rely on credit for the bulk of this year’s holiday purchases. The survey found that 41.5 percent of shoppers will primarily use their debit/check card to pay for holiday items this year, compared to 40.1 percent last year. The number of Americans who will pay with cash is also up slightly this year, with 22.8 percent of shoppers using dollar bills to make holiday purchases, compared to 22.1 percent a year ago. People using credit cards as a primary payment method dipped slightly (31.5% this year vs. 32.3% last year), while personal checks are becoming nearly nonexistent (4.3%).

“If consumers have been waiting for the best deals possible, their wait is over,” said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at BIGresearch. “Even though consumers will be watchful of their spending this year, shoppers may find the bargains too good to pass up and will treat themselves to something they’ve had their eye on for months.” 

PRESS AND ANALYSTS: Join us for a media briefing tomorrow,Tuesday, November 18, at 1 pm ET with Pam Goodfellow, Senior Analyst at BIGresearch. On the call, Pam will present data from their latest consumer surveys including insight into holiday shopping trends, gift card spending and preferred payment methods. Click here to register.

About the Survey

The NRF 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey polled 8,758 consumers and was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch, November 5-11, 2008. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 8,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.  

The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com.