NRF: Consumers to shop right up to Christmas Eve

Washington--Around 10 percent of consumers who haven’t yet wrapped up their holiday shopping will wait until Christmas Eve to finish, news that is no surprise to jewelers who are used to being busy until closing time on Dec. 24.

According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) latest holiday survey, in addition to the 10 percent of consumers who say they’ll finish on Christmas Eve, 29 percent of consumers plan to finish shopping by Dec. 18, 14 percent by Dec. 20 and 12 percent by Dec. 21.

This means that 65 percent of consumers still have some shopping to do over the next few days.

So, where will they spend their money?

According to the NRF survey, 50 percent of shoppers said they plan to do the rest of their holiday shopping on the Internet--the highest percent in the survey’s 11-year history. In addition, 9 percent of those celebrating Christmas will shop online that day, up from 5 percent in 2009.

Tablet and smartphone owners will roll out their devices this season, with 47 percent of tablet owners researching products and comparing prices to aid in their purchasing decisions and 36 percent of smartphone owners doing the same.

Almost two in five (19 percent) smartphone owners will actually make a purchase via their device, as well as one-third (33 percent) of tablet owners.

The survey also showed that 45 percent of consumers will finish shopping at department stores and 37 percent will head to discount stores, as well as electronic stores (24 percent), clothing and accessory stores (24 percent), grocery stores (15 percent) and outlet stores (14 percent).

When it comes to what type of gift shoppers have already bought, half say apparel and nearly four in 10 (39 percent) said toys. Jewelry was fifth on the list at 18 percent.

Slightly more than one-third (34 percent) of shoppers bought gift cards, the most requested gift item of the season.

“It comes as no surprise that Americans are eager to shop online in the coming weeks as busy schedules and a shift in the calendar have made the convenience offered by retailers’ mobile apps and websites even more attractive this year,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

The NRF 2013 holiday consumer spending survey polled 6,324 consumers and was conducted by Proper Insights & Analytics from Dec. 2 to 9.