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RAPAPORT... The National Retail Federation (NRF) determined that 24 percent of U.S. consumers who buy gifts for the Christmas season intend to purchase jewelry or a precious metal accessory this year, according to Prosper Insights & Analytics on behalf of the retail group. The figure was slightly higher than jewelry gift intentions in 2013. In addition, 20.1 percent of consumers who earn under $50,000 intend to purchase jewelry, while 27.4 percent of those earning more than $50,000 expect to make a jewelry or precious metal purchase. The salary figure roughly marks the nation's median household income. The age group most likely to purchase jewelry or a precious metal accessory fell in the range of 18 to 24, with 34 percent acknowledging their intention to buy. As for the other age groups, 28.7 percent of those 25 to 34 intend to buy jewelry, 24.5 percent of those 35 to 44 and 22.9 percent of those 45 to 54 expressed their intention to make a jewelry purchase for a gift. Only 19.5 percent of those who were between 55 and 64 and 16.6 percent of those older than 65 intend to buy jewelry. Other top gift choices included, clothing and accessories (61 percent), gift certificates (60 percent), books, CDs, DVDs or video games (46 percent), toys (42 percent), electronics (31 percent), food or candy (31 percent), personal care (25 percent), home decor (20 percent), sporting goods (20 percent), home improvement (13 percent) and flowers or plants (8 percent). The NRF found that nearly 48 percent of U.S. consumers who buy holiday gifts will search online for ideas and inspiration, 43.4 percent will seek inspiration from inside stores and 41.7 percent will ask family and friends for input. Other important avenues for inspiration, cited by at least 32 percent of respondents, included advertising circulars, catalogs, television and wish lists. Surprisingly, only 10.6 percent expect to find inspiration on Facebook, 10.4 percent will seek ideas on retailer apps and very few -- less than 8 percent -- expect to find inspiration on Twitter, Pintrest, radio or blogs. Prosper Insights & Analytics surveyed 6,593 U.S. consumers, roughly 5 percent stated that they do not shop for Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, with Christmas being celebrated by about 93 percent of the population. But of those who do buy gifts -- 53.7 percent expect to spend the same amount as they had in 2013, while 21.3 percent plan to spend a little more and 19.5 percent expect to spend a little less.
Nearly 46 percent have not yet begun Christmas shopping, and the NRF concluded that these procrastinators are simply holding out for bargain-basement deals.
“Many consumers are going to wait and see how great the promotions will be later this season before making any commitments,” said NRF's president and CEO, Matthew Shay. “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.” Pam Goodfellow, the principal analyst at Prosper Insights, said, "Retailers make holiday shoppers’ job easy with so many options to find the perfect gift, and with little room to waste on gifts that don't make sense, consumers today want to be sure what they buy is used and enjoyed by their loved ones. On the hunt for bargains, quality merchandise that is unique and even exclusive, gift givers this holiday season will seek out both practical and indulgent gift items, though being sure not to break the bank."
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