Father's Day Spending to Fall

Bummer, dads: A new survey by the National Retail Federation shows that the kids (and others) will spend less on gifts for Father's Day this year than in the recent past. The 2009 Father’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, reveals that Americans will spend an average of $90.89 on Father's Day gifts, down from $94.54 last year.

The survey polled 8,447 consumers from May 5 to 12. Here are some more findings:

• total Father's Day spending is expected to reach $9.4 billion;
• $1.9 billion will be spent on “special outings,” such as dinners or sporting events, the most of any category, followed by apparel ($1.3 billion), gift cards ($1.2 billion), electronics ($1.0 billion), books or CDs ($548 million), home improvement items ($522 million), and sporting goods ($502 million); and
• 33.9 percent of respondents said they plan to do their Father's Day shopping at discount stores, the most popular channel, followed by department stores (33.7 percent), electronics and home improvement stores (26.8 percent), online (17.9 percent), specialty clothing stores (6.1 percent), and catalogs (2.8 percent).

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