FOLLOW US

The holiday season will be in full swing this week. Black Friday will kick off holiday shopping with major sales at nearly every store in America. And get ready, because forecasters estimate consumers will be spending even more this year than they did last year by more than four percent.

According to the the world’s largest retail trade association, the National Retail Federation (NRF), shoppers will spend an average of $1,007.24. That’s up from the $967.00 estimates of last year’s winter shopping season.

These numbers came from an NRF survey of 7,000 respondents who answered questions in the first half of October.

On the NRF website, The President and CEO of NRF says the holiday spending will be up this year because a very simple answer, the economy is doing well.

“Confidence is near an all-time high, unemployment is the lowest we’ve seen in decades and take-home wages are up. All of that is reflected in consumers’ buying plans. Retailers expect strong demand this year, and are prepared with a wide array of merchandise while offering strong deals and promotions during the busiest and most competitive shopping season of the year.”

The $1000.00 that NRF expects consumers to spend will be split between three categories: Gifts (the kind that go under the Christmas tree), Non-Gifts (food and decorations) and Other Non-Gifts (buying things to just buy them because of the good sales).

The top three Gifts you’re likely to buy for your loved ones and friends are gift cards, clothing and accessories, or, book and other media. These three things are the most wanted gifts in America this year.

Now this NRF survey is just a prediction of what people say they will spend, not what they will actually spend. The final numbers for the 2018 holiday shopping season will come out in January. We will have to wait until then to see what consumers really spent.