Early holiday promotions boost shoppers to kick-start holiday buying

The average holiday shopper has completed 52.9% of their shopping as of December 10, up from 49.9% last year, indicates National Retail Federation’s (NRF) latest Holiday Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

“This year we witnessed ‘a tale of two holiday shoppers’ with many jumping on retailers’ early, hard-to-pass-up in-store and online promotions, and others waiting until the last minute to wrap up their lists,” shares NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. “In the final stretch, retailers will continue to look for creative ways to attract those with shopping left to do by offering exclusive Super Saturday promotions, extending their in-store holiday hours and promoting deals on expedited shipping. We are optimistic the holiday season will end on a high note for retailers.”

“Though millions of eager consumers jumped on early holiday promotions, there is still plenty of shopping left to do. Hurried last-minute shoppers will look for gift cards, clothing items, toys and other popular gifts from a variety of retailers, likely even hoping to win big with expedited shipping deals and extremely low prices online and in stores,” reveals Prosper Insights & Analytics’ principal analyst Pam Goodfellow.

While there’s plenty of shopping left to do, nearly one-third, 32.8%, plan to buy their last holiday gift before Thursday, December 18; 14.5% will look to Super Saturday on December 20) to purchase their last gift and 9.1% will wait until the very last minute and buy their last gift on Christmas Eve. Additionally, more men than women will wait until Christmas Eve to purchase the last gift – 10.5% versus 7.9%, respectively.