Expectations Concerning 2010’s Holiday Spending

Added by Monique Robinson on October 29, 2010

Surveys on consumer’s Christmas spending don’t show the same tendency. A survey conducted by Gallup expects consumers to spend less during this year’s holidays, while the National Retail Federation (NRF) stated that its survey anticipates a slight increase in consumer holiday spending.

Both indicated, however, that the average sum per household that will be spent on gifts will amount approximately $700.

The NRF expects this holiday discounts to be as high as 80 per cent in online stores, together with free shipping.

Linda Stern, reporting for Reuters, advised shoppers to watch out for sales, since not all shops that say they’re offering discounts are actually doing so.

Many shoppers feel that they need to buy items only when they’re on sale, but since this ‘sales discount’ is variable, shoppers need to be wary.

A way of checking out if stores like Wal-Mart, that already started giving discounts on toys, are undertaking an ‘on sale’ strategy is by using comparison sites such as Bizrate.com and PriceGrabber.com.

These two websites can help shoppers determine if brand-name items are actually on sale and if by purchasing that product at that time they’ll be getting the best price or not.

Also, Mrs. Stern says that couponing websites such as Retail Me Not can be used as well to check if the retailer a shopper’s considering purchasing from has any other discounts available.