Port Washington, NY, October 9, 2007 – The NPD Group, Inc. announced the results of its Annual Survey of Consumers’ Holiday Purchase Intentions 2007. According to the survey, consumers will start their holiday shopping later than ever this year, and impulse buying will be down.
As retailers continue to push the start of the holiday season earlier and earlier, consumers tell NPD they don’t anticipate starting their shopping until even later this year. Forty-one percent of survey respondents said they don’t anticipate beginning their holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving. That’s 10% more than reported in last year’s survey.
“I spotted the first holiday set-up in a store on August 18th this year…that’s nearly a month earlier than last year. Retailers are looking to start the season earlier but consumers just aren’t ready.” said NPD’s Chief Industry Expert, Marshal Cohen. “The hesitation comes in because there isn’t that one must-have item coupled with the fact that consumers are conditioned to expect deeper discounts as it gets later in the season… where’s the incentive to shop early?”
There are plenty of questions about how the current state of the U.S. economy will impact holiday sales. According to the NPD survey results, only 5% of consumers say they are actually planning to spend less this holiday. “Consumers have the same number of people on their gift lists, and they tell us they have pretty much same budget every year.” observed Cohen.
| Consumer Spending Intentions | ||
| Category | Plan to Purchase '07 | Purchased '06 |
| Clothing | 54% | 59% |
| Electronics | 38% | 51% |
| Toys | 37% | 39% |
| Books | 33% | 32% |
| Music | 26% | 26% |
| Fragrances | 22% | 23% |
| (Percentage of survey respondents) | ||
The holiday shopping season continues to be the most important one to retailers, and with expectations of lowering growth rates, could there be a missed opportunity somewhere? “I believe there is an opportunity being missed or not being properly identified.” stated Cohen, “It’s in impulse purchasing.” (Impulse purchasing includes buying something for yourself, or a gift for someone not on your list, or even an extra gift item for someone already on your list, while you’re shopping.)
“Impulse purchasing has made up a significant portion of holiday sales. In past years, impulse purchases have accounted for 26% of holiday sales. In 2006, that figure dropped to 19%, this year we’ll be lucky to hit 17%,” stated Cohen, “Stores and brands need to reclaim and become the drivers of impulse. They need to identify or even create a hot product or products. Then they need to create a forum in which salespeople can be available to interact with customers, make recommendations, and turn the recommendations into sales.”
“Gift cards and online shopping are contributing to the decline of impulse purchasing,” Cohen believes. “Plus, they do make it easy to shop for the holiday.” Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents told NPD they intend to buy gift cards. This year 10% more of them have stated they feel giving a gift card is an acceptable thing to do.
Source: The NPD Holiday Survey of Consumer Purchase Intentions was fielded September 10 to September 17, 2007. The findings presented here are based on information from 1,943 completed interviews of NPD's online consumer panel .
About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,600 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, visit www.npd.com.