Consumers Plan to Spend About the Same as Last Year on Holiday Gifts

NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. households plan to spend an average of $560 on gifts this holiday season, about the same as last year, The Conference Board reports today. More consumers will be seeking bargains, and an increasing number will be shopping primarily online. Nearly 37 percent expect one-half of their purchases to be on sale or discounted.

The survey of holiday gift spending intentions, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The survey was conducted for The Conference Board in October as part of the Consumer Confidence Survey®. 

Approximately 11 percent of consumers plan to spend more this year on holiday gifts, compared with 9 percent last year. Sixty-five percent plan to spend about the same as last year. The remaining 24 percent say they plan to spend less than last year.

"With consumer confidence close to a 17-year high, consumers are entering the holiday season in very good spirits," said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. "However, good cheer alone is not enough to convince consumers to make a purchase. The overwhelming majority of consumers say they will be looking for bargains and incentives, with a growing number doing so online."

The number of consumers shopping online continues to increase. Close to 37 percent plan to purchase at least half their gifts online this year, up from 34 percent last year and slightly over a quarter in 2015.

Source: The Conference Board Holiday Spending Survey, October 2017

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD
The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. Winner of the Consensus Economics 2016 Forecast Accuracy Award (U.S.), The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

ABOUT NIELSEN
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen's Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services for all devices on which content — video, audio and text — is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry's only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen also provides its clients with analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90 percent of the world's population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.   

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SOURCE The Conference Board