A National Retail Federation (NRF) survey has found that the average consumer plans to spend $702.03 on the holidays, up 4.5 percentover last year. Shoppers will be spending their holiday budgets on a variety of merchandise. This year, average consumers will spend the bulk of their holiday budget on gifts for family ($406.52) and friends ($71.29). Consumers will also spend $22.12 on gifts co-workers and $41.10 on other people, including babysitters, teachers, and clergy. Other items consumers will purchase include decorations ($35.91), greeting cards and postage ($25.22), candy and food ($83.77), and flowers ($16.10).
Shoppers have also been thinkingabout what they would like to receive this year. As usual, books, CDs, DVDs, videos, and video games held the highest ranking, with 53.1 percent of consumers hoping to receive something in that category. Clothing and clothing accessories also continue to rank high withshoppers at 50.6 percent. The largest jump this year came in gift cards, with more than half of consumers (50.2%) wanting to receive a gift card, up more than ten percent in two years. Other items onconsumers' wish lists include consumer electronics (32.6%), jewelry (22.6%), and home décor (21.3%).
