Consumers plan to spend 4% more this holiday season

Consumers say they will spend an average of $1,047.83 this holiday season, up 4% from the $1,007.24 they said they would spend last year, according to an annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

“Consumers are in good financial shape and willing to spend a little more on gifts for the special people in their lives this holiday season,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.

Holiday shoppers plan to spread their shopping across multiple channels and types of stores, with more than half (56%) saying they will shop online. Among online shoppers, 92% plan to take advantage of free shipping and 48% will use buy online, pick-up in store or ship to store services, and 16% plan to use same-day delivery, which has doubled since 2015. The youngest online shoppers (ages 18 to 24) are the most likely to say they plan to use same-day delivery at 32%.

Consumers will spend in three main categories during the holidays, according to the survey — gifts for family, friends and co-workers, at an average of $658.55; non-gift holiday items such as candy and food, decorations, greeting cards and flowers at $227.26; and other non-gift purchases that take advantage of the deals and promotions throughout the season at $162.02.

The consumer survey comes on top of NRF’s annual holiday spending forecast, which takes into account a variety of economic factors to project overall spending rather than per-consumer spending. Additionally, the forecast estimated that holiday retail sales in November and December will be up between 3.8% and 4.2% over 2018 for a total of between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion.

Similar to previous years, 39% of holiday shoppers said they would start buying holiday items before November, while 43% are waiting until at least November and 18% are waiting until December.

Shoppers between the ages of 35 and 44 plan to spend the most at $1,158.63, according to the study.