There will be plenty of popular items on consumer wish lists this holiday season, but the most sought-after category appears to be the most practical: gift cards.
This year, more than half (53.8%) of consumers want to receive a gift card or gift certificate as a holiday gift, though they won't be the only item on shoppers' wish lists. Consumers also want everything from clothing and accessories (50.1%) to books, CDs, DVDs, videos and video games (50.8%).
Other popular categories include consumer electronics or computer-related accessories (36.4%), jewelry (23.8%) and home décor or home-related furnishings (22.0%).
Though shoppers choose to buy in stores for a variety of reasons, two major factors will be driving consumer traffic this holiday season. The majority of shoppers continue to say that everyday low prices (12.8%) and sales or price discounts (38.2%) bring them into the stores.
Though this will be a promotional holiday season, other factors like customer service (4.9%), product quality (12.8%), and merchandise selection (22.6%) will help retailers drive traffic. Additionally, 6.3 percent of shoppers said they choose to shop at stores with the most convenient location.
NRF continues to expect holiday sales to increase 4.0 percent to $474.5 billion. The NRF 2007 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays.
The survey, which polled 7,837 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from October 2-9, 2007. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.
BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes.
BIGresearch's syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.
National Retail Federation
marketing@alchempro.com
