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Survey: Deloitte Optimistic for Increased US Holiday Spending

October 30, 2014

Professional services firm Deloitte, which completes financial advisory surveys, has released the annual holiday shopping survey for nearly three decades. This year’s survey, the 29th annual, shows that U.S. shoppers are optimistic entering the season for giving, which also happens to be the season for shopping.


Overall, the survey of 5,033 U.S. consumers shows that people expect to spend significantly more than last year. A review of the report at Deloitte explains that the survey predicts a rise of 13 percent – up $1,299 per household – from last year. That spending includes purchased gifts, socializing away from buyer’s households, home entertainment, non-gift clothing, holiday furnishings, and other holiday-related spending. Alison Paul, vice chairman and retail sector leader of Deloitte, says the expected spending increase and a short holiday shopping season will place pressure on retailers to promote special holiday deals and keep their inventory up to snuff between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“With the short, 27-day shopping stretch between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, retailers need to be sharp with their promotional timing, inventory management and distribution capabilities. Retailers that can fulfill orders from both online distribution centers and store inventories, for example, may be more nimble and poised to respond quickly to pockets of high demand for certain gifts — and ensure timely holiday deliveries,” Paul said.

Within the overall amount of spending consumers will complete this holiday season, Deloitte also predicts that the amount and number of gifts will also increase. Spending is expected to rise nine percent to $458 per household this year – up from $421 last year – and the number of gifts per household is expected to rise from 12.9 last year to 13.4. Notably, this figure is substantially less than the all-time high of 23.1 gifts per household in 2007.

The various security breaches at retailers such as The Home Depot and Target, of which the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee recently requested a hearing to discuss, have apparently not caused shoppers to back off plans to spend in the coming months. Paul confirmed that consumers were expected to shop at the affected retailers and that their optimism could benefit those businesses greatly. However, Paul also stressed that those retailers will need to remain alert to combat any future breaches possibly enhanced with the number of shoppers concentrated in the holiday season.




Edited by Maurice Nagle



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