CONSUMERS MAKING PROGRESS ON HOLIDAY CHECKLISTS |
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Sunday, 19 December 2004 07:00 PM America/New_York |
Consumers completed a significant portion of their holiday shopping over the last week, according to a new National Retail Federation (NRF) survey. The NRF 2004 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that the average consumer had completed 81.9% of his or her holiday shopping as of Sunday. The study also shows consumers have spent an average of $511.77 on the holidays this year. Kelly Maigaard, owner of Wellspring in Des Moines, Iowa, called the shopping at her Christian bookstore "absolutely crazy" in the last week. "I expect the rest of the week to be a complete zoo," added Maigaard, who didn't have store sales available. She credits opening on Sunday for the boost in holiday business. The store has been open on Sundays since Thanksgiving weekend. "We're packing tons of sales" from 1 (p.m.) to 5 p.m.," she said. But Maigaard isn't rejoicing yet about a possible increase in sales. "We anticipate being flat in December because we're losing a Saturday sale (on Dec. 25)," she explained. "It was a weird season because of the way the holidays landed. … The verdict is out so far." NRF estimates that up to 20% of holiday sales will occur the week before Christmas. Additionally, the week after Christmas typically represents 10% of holiday sales, with consumers filling the stores to redeem gift cards and hunt for sale items.
As of Sunday, 12 million consumers still had not started their holiday shopping, leaving many purchases and gift-buying until the last minute
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