According to the National Retail Federation’s latest holiday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, as of December 9, the average holiday shopper had completed half (49.9%) of their shopping, slightly less than the 56.5 percent they’d completed by this time last year, boding well for retailers who are preparing for a very big holiday shopping weekend. Specifically, 32 million or 14.0 percent say they have not even started, while another 20 million or 8.9 percent say they are already finished.

“A late Thanksgiving that fell in place with Hanukkah, and the shorter season overall, make these last two weekends of utmost importance for all holiday shoppers”

“There’s no question that the shortened holiday season has put both retailers and consumers in a rush to make the most out of the time that’s left before the big day,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “With two of the most important shopping weekends in front of them, retailers will do their best to pull in those final dollars with unique offerings for their in-store, online and mobile shoppers; consumers will definitely be doing their homework before committing to any gift purchase, however, making it even more important for companies to compete on value, price and digital offerings.”

“A late Thanksgiving that fell in place with Hanukkah, and the shorter season overall, make these last two weekends of utmost importance for all holiday shoppers,” said Prosper’s Consumer Insights Director Pam Goodfellow. “Given the tremendous growth in online shopping this holiday season, retailers can expect to see much excitement around their multichannel offerings, especially free shipping deals that guarantee Christmas delivery – leaving much of the footwork out of it for busy Americans.”

Visit the Retail Insight Center for all NRF holiday survey results, additional consumer research, government data, and economic analysis. After creating a free account, all historical and demographic data is available through customizable tables and charts that can easily be exported to Excel.

About the Survey

The NRF 2013 holiday consumer spending survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey polled 6,324 consumers and was conducted for NRF by Prosper Insights & Analytics December 5–9, 2013. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percentage points.

Prosper Insights & Analytics delivers executives timely, consumer-centric insights from multiple sources. As a comprehensive resource of information, Prosper represents the voice of the consumer and provides knowledge to marketers regarding consumer views on the economy, personal finance, retail, lifestyle, media and domestic and world issues. www.ProsperDiscovery.com

NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is the nation’s largest private sector employer, supporting one in four U.S. jobs – 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.5 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy. NRF’s This is Retail campaign highlights the industry’s opportunities for life-long careers, how retailers strengthen communities, and the critical role that retail plays in driving innovation. www.nrf.com.

Download complete survey; view sample charts in NRF’s Retail Insight Center