Holiday shoppers getting a head start

Washington--When it comes to celebrating the holidays, more than half of those who do so already have begun shopping, a recent survey shows.

According to the National Retail Federation’s Consumer Holiday Spending Survey, 57 percent of consumers had started their shopping by early November, up from 54 percent last year and also the highest percentage seen since 2008.

When broken out by age group, the survey showed that it’s the 25 to 44 year olds who have gotten out of the gates early. Specifically, 65 percent of 25 to 34 year olds and 62 percent of 35 to 44 year olds have started their holiday shopping.

In addition, nearly 58 percent of women have gotten a jump on their holiday lists, compared with 55 percent of men.

“Thanksgiving weekend shopping has evolved tremendously over the past few years and can no longer be seen as the ‘start’ of the holiday season,” said NRF President Matthew Shay. “There’s a real sea change happening in retail when it comes to the how, when, where and why of holiday shopping.

“Consumers today are looking for great prices and value-add promotions earlier than ever before, and retailers have answered these demands in several different ways already this holiday season.”

Apparel and clothing are the most popular types of gifts people are buying this season, at 60 percent. That’s followed by books, CDs, DVDs and video games, which includes online streaming and purchases made on sites such as Amazon and iTunes (46 percent), toys (41 percent), food or candy (30 percent) and jewelry (22 percent).

The number of shoppers buying gift cards is down this year, from 60 to 56 percent.

The survey also asked consumers how they planned to find their holiday gifts. Online searches and social media proved to be the preferred channel, with 47 percent choosing that method, followed by advertising circulars (35 percent), TV ads (31 percent) and catalogs (30 percent).

Of the social media shoppers, 13 percent said they’d use Facebook and 9 percent will turn to Pinterest.

“While there are many ‘Type A’ holiday shoppers who love to get an early start on their wish lists, it’s also likely some of the early shopping we’ve seen has been in the form of ‘self-gifting,’ and there’s no question millennials love treating themselves to something when the price is right,” said Pam Goodfellow of Prosper Insights and