CHART CLOSE-UP FROM THE STORY:
Consumers to Spend 5% More on Holiday Gifts This Year »
scroll down to read the full story

Consumers to Spend 5% More on Holiday Gifts This Year

US households are expected to spend an average of $471 on gifts during the holiday season, up some 4.9% from last year’s estimate of $449, according to The Conference Board’s survey of Christmas gift spending intentions.
The top Christmas spenders will be East South Central households (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee), who intend to spend $583.

Lowest Christmas spending will be in the West North Central region (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), where consumers intend to spend $397 on Christmas gifts.

One-third of all households will spend $500 or more on Christmas gifts, with 35% spending $200-$500 and the remaining 31% planning to spend less than $200.

Online Buying

This year, 38% of all consumers will buy Christmas gifts via the internet, the same percentage as a year ago.

Books top the list of online Christmas buying, with 40% saying they will buy books as gifts. Apparel and footwear came in second with 39% of consumers intending to purchase these gifts online. Toys/games rank third as online Christmas buying choices, followed closely by movie videos and DVDs.

Of the 38% who said they purchased Christmas gifts last year via the internet, 91% said they were satisfied with their online buying experience.

Other key findings in The Conference Board survey:

• Households headed by individuals 45-54 intend to spend the most this year, with $485 the average expenditure.
• Households headed by those aged 35-44 intend to spend $479 on gifts.
• Households with incomes of $50,000+ intend to spend $612 for Christmas gifts.

About the study: The Conference Board Christmas Spending Survey 2007 covers a nationally representative sample of 5,000 US households and was conducted for The Conference Board in November by TNS.