Consumers Plan to Reel In Their Holiday Spending

The nation’s economic struggles will take its toll on retailers this coming holiday season, a recent survey showed. According to the Consumer Intentions & Actions survey from the market research firm BIGresearch, 39 percent of consumers intend to spend less this holiday season than they did last year, an 8 percent increase from last year. The recent survey polled more than 7,500 consumers. Here are some more findings of the survey.

* 4.7 percent said they plan to spend more on gifts this year compared to last, down from 6.9 percent who said the same last year;

* 31.4 percent said they plan to spend the same as last year vs. 37.4 percent in 2007;

* 61.5 percent of males said they plan to spend more this year than last, compared to 38.5 percent of females;

* 60.1 percent of females said they plan to spend less this year than last year vs. 39.9 percent of males;

* 91 percent of the respondents said they regularly or occasionally use the Web to research products online;

* electronics is the most popular product category researched online (43.3 percent), followed by apparel (22.9 percent), appliances (22.9 percent), home improvement (19.4 percent) and shoes (19 percent); and

* 25.6 percent of the respondents said Google is their most frequently searched Web site, followed by Amazon (8.9 percent), Yahoo! (5.5 percent) and eBay (2.8 percent).

For more information, go to www.bigresearch.com.