Holiday Spending Looking Upward

BIGresearch’s September Consumer Intentions & Actions survey of more than 8,000 consumers shows that 6.9 percent plan to spend more this holiday season than they did last year. Here are some more of the survey’s findings:

* 37.4 percent say they’ll spend the same this holiday season as last year;

* 30.9 percent plan to spend less this year, up less than a percentage point over last year (30.2 percent) and down almost four percent from 2005 (34.7 percent);

* The most frequently searched products are electronics (35.8 percent), apparel (19.9 percent), appliances (19.3 percent), home improvement items (16.3 percent) and shoes (15.4 percent);

* Google will see the most consumer traffic searching for products (22 percent), followed by Amazon.com (6.9 percent), Yahoo.com (5.1 percent), eBay.com (2.7 percent) and WalMart.com (2.2 percent);

* More men (58.5 percent) said they will be “big spenders” this holiday season than women (41.5 percent);

* Purchase intentions for big-ticket items, such as furniture, housing, jewelry, major home improvement, video electronics, digital cameras, appliances and vacation travel are down from last year;

* Computer, auto, RV/boat and stereo equipment purchase intentions are flat compared to last year; and

* TV purchase intentions is the lone category up from last year.

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