Nearly half of consumers still plan to make holiday purchases before Christmas and in the days following the holiday, according to an annual survey released Dec. 20 by the National Retail Federation.
The NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics said in their December consumer holiday survey that roughly 55% of shoppers polled expect to have their holiday shopping completed by Dec. 20. The remaining 45% still plan to purchase gifts in the days leading up to Christmas as well as after Dec. 25.
Of the consumers polled, 11% said they planned to purchase their last gift Dec. 20, while 6% said the last day would be Dec. 21 and another 12% cited Dec. 22. Still another 16% said they would make their final purchase Dec. 23, and 6% said they would do so on Christmas Eve. Some 5% of consumers said they will purchase their final gifts after Christmas Day.
The survey, which polled 7,212 consumers between Dec. 4 and Dec. 12 about their holiday shopping plans, found that 126 million shoppers, or roughly 53% of consumers, plan to shop Dec. 23, or "Super Saturday."
NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a news release that he anticipates busy stores over the coming days as shopping lists are completed.
"Even though many consumers got a head start with holiday shopping early in the season, millions more are leaving their gift buying to the last minute and beyond," Shay said.
Of those still to make last-minute purchases, 51% said they planned to do so online, followed by 41% at department stores and 26% at discount stores, according to the NRF.
Adobe Digital Insights has estimated that the 2017 holiday season could be the first to surpass $100 billion in online sales, but projected that temperatures and light snow could also help boost traffic to brick-and-mortar stores over the coming days.
Weather analytics firm Planalytics said in a Dec. 14 webinar that favorable projected temperatures throughout parts of the country between Dec. 17 and Dec. 23 could boost brick-and-mortar retail sales during the homestretch of the holiday season. Retailers are also encouraged by the extra Sunday of shopping provided this year compared with last year; Christmas Day falls on a Monday in 2017.
