Only 6% Say They Will Spend More
UTICA, New York - Nearly half of all U.S. adults (46%) say they plan to spend less on the holidays this year than they did in 2009, and 51% say they will spend less on gifts, a new Zogby Interactive Poll finds.
However, when people are given specific dollar ranges of how much they plan to spend on others during the holidays, responses are nearly identical to those given in 2009.
When asked about their holiday spirit compared to last year, 27% say they are more in the mood to celebrate the holidays and 18% say they are less so. That is an improvement in negative mood shift from 2009, when 39% said they were less in the mood than the previous year.
The survey was conducted from Nov. 19-22, 2010 and is compared to a similar poll taken Dec. 8-11, 2009.
Compared to last year, how much to you expect to spend this holiday season?
|
Plan to spend |
2010 |
2009 |
|
Much more |
2% |
2% |
|
Somewhat more |
5% |
7% |
|
About the same |
45% |
40% |
|
Somewhat less |
27% |
27% |
|
Much less |
19% |
22% |
|
Not sure |
3% |
2% |
Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding
How much do you plan to spend on others this holiday season?
|
Plan to spend |
2010 |
2009 |
|
Nothing |
3% |
2% |
|
Less Than $100 |
12% |
11% |
|
$101-$300 |
23% |
24% |
|
$301-$500 |
21% |
21% |
|
$501-$1,000 |
19% |
22% |
|
More Than $1,000 |
12% |
13% |
|
Not sure |
10% |
7% |
Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding
Which parts of the holiday celebrations this year, if any, do you plan to scale back on due to the economy?
|
Scaling back on |
2010 |
2009 |
|
Gifts |
51% |
39% |
|
Travel |
25% |
25% |
|
Decorations |
25% |
26% |
|
Food |
22% |
19% |
|
Other |
5% |
4% |
|
Do not plan to scale back |
36% |
36% |
|
Don't celebrate holidays |
4% |
5% |
Compared to last year, do you find yourself more or less in the mood to celebrate the holidays this year?
|
More or less in holiday mood |
2010 |
2009 |
|
More |
18% |
21% |
|
Less |
27% |
39% |
|
About the same |
53% |
40% |
|
Not sure |
2% |
<1% |
Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding
Other results from the poll include:
- Adults are slightly more likely this year to say they will pay cash for holiday gifts (33%) than they were in 2009 (27%). Others this year will use debit or check card (32%), credit card (27%) or check (2%).
- When people who are on a holiday budget are asked what they would do if they found the perfect gift for someone, but it would put them over-budget, 36% would still buy it and 40% would not buy it and exceed their limit. Another 19% would return another gift in order to buy that "prefect" gift and still stay on-budget.
Pollster John Zogby: "Our results show that retailers will need to keep offering deep discounts in order to even match what was a poor holiday sales season in 2009. Nearly one-half say they will spend less overall on the holidays this year, but their actual estimates of what they will spend on gifts is the same as 2009. Retailers should expect another down year, and must hope this doesn't become the new normal."
The Nov. 19-22, 2010 interactive poll consisted of 2,055 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of +/-2.2%. The Dec. 8-11, 2009 poll consisted of 3,072 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of +/-1.8%. A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the U.S., was invited to participate. Slight weights were added to region, party, age, race, religion, gender and education to more accurately reflect the population.