Will Merchants Make A Holiday Deal?

The 2014 holiday shopping season has launched at a snail’s pace, but new research suggests retailers with enticing sales will eventually be rewarded for their patience.

The National Retail Federation released results of a survey Wednesday (Nov. 12) that reveals how shoppers are holding out on their holiday shopping sprees for late-season big-time promotions.

The NRF’s Holiday Consumer Spending Survey showed 45.6 percent of shoppers have yet to begin their holiday shopping – the lowest figure ever recorded in the Survey’s seven-year history.

But gift-givers aren’t just procrastinating. According to NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay, the consumers “are going to wait and see how great the promotions will be later this season before making any commitments,” likely delaying their spending for popular Thanksgiving weekend sales.

The trend has caught the attention of stores this year, too.

“Retailers have reacted to this ‘wait and see’ mentality with fewer October deals and a much quieter entry into November, when we’ll start to see retailers ramp up with offers for exclusive merchandise, deep discounts and unique online savings opportunities,” Shay said.

The study, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, also found only 2.2 percent have already completed their gift shopping this year. But with retailers’ eventual promotion boom expected to come, shoppers are already revealing which gifts will reign the most popular during holiday celebrations.

While 60.9 percent of surveyed shoppers say they plan to nab clothing and accessories off the shelves, fewer consumers said they would purchase electronic items as gifts – down to 30.7 percent from 33 percent the previous year.

And once again, gift cards prove that the best gifts come in small packages, with 60 percent of shoppers saying they plan to buy – and 60 percent saying they hope to receive – the popular gift, making gift cards the most requested item for the eighth year in a row.

The research also tracked how customers will pay for their gifts.

In another first for the survey, 38 percent of consumers said they plan to use their credit card to purchase products – the highest in the survey’s history. Findings also showed 38.5 percent of shoppers will use their debit or check card.

Only 2.1 percent plan to use checks – the lowest figure since the NRF launched the survey.

While some spending habit trends are clearly revealed in the research, others – like online holiday shopping behavior – are a bit less obvious. The NRF found, for example, that nearly half (47.7%) of shoppers plan to conduct online searches for gift-giving inspiration – a figure in stark contrast to a separate study released earlier this month, which found only 24.2 percent of adults plan to do their holiday shopping online. ​