The current status of our economy is the reason many people have been cutting back on their spending lately. Now, however, the issue of holiday shopping is quickly arising.
Shoppers are trying to save more by hitting the stores earlier rather than going through the typical Black Friday fiasco.
According to customer research done by Wal-Mart, 70 percent of consumers planned to start their holiday toy shopping before Halloween, and 32 percent of consumers planned to complete most of their holiday shopping before the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
This is not the plan for recent UNH alum Brent Powers.
“I always tend to wait until the last minute,” Powers says. “I’ll probably go shopping the week before Christmas.”
Retailers are concerned, though, that this holiday season may be as bad as last year’s, which, according to the New York Times, was one of the worst on record.
Last year, there was a retailing sale decline of about 2 percent, making it the weakest performance since the 1960s. Stores selling clothing and luxury goods posted declining sales in the double digits. Retailers are simply hoping for a flat year this holiday season. This would mean that things have stopped getting worse and have just simply leveled off.
According to the New York Times, a holiday study published by Nielsen discovered that 85 percent of households plan on spending about the same amount or slightly less than last year. These people also plan on buying more necessities and home entertainment items than anything else. With that, jewelry, sports equipment, and vacations will be the least bought this season.
As well as cutting back on trivial gifts, consumers are planning on cutting back on whom they buy for. In order to continue spending the typical amount on gifts for family members, 5 percent of consumers are cutting out gifts for friends, while 8 percent are eliminating gifts for co-workers, said the New York Times article.
Allison Letourneau, a junior here at UNH, is taking this budgeted approach for her holiday shopping.
“I’m only buying for my family this year,” said Letourneau. “I have a budget because I don’t have a job during the school year.”
Junior Lindsey Jeltes doesn’t have a budget, but plans on simply buying for her family this year because it would be impossible to afford gifts for all of her close friends.
More retailers are hoping bigger and better sales will bring in more customers this holiday season.
Wal-Mart plans on again adding the $10 toy section they had last season. As well, Wal-Mart says they will match any local competitor’s advertisement on a toy if it were priced under $10.
K-Mart has started a “Fab 15” toy list. It highlights a layaway program that allows customers to reserve a popular item early, pay for it over time, and pick up their item prior to the holidays.
Sears is having their own “Black Friday NOW!” sales, which offer select Black Friday doorbusters at their Black Friday prices. These sales are available both in stores and online, making it easier for customers to make purchases. And, like K-Mart, Sears offers the same kind of layaway program to make holiday shopping easier on consumers.
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