Despite the credit card hangover many shoppers will have on Dec. 26, nearly half of American consumers aren’t worried about racking up credit card debt this holiday season and 15 percent of shoppers plan to spend even more this year than they did in 2005, according to a survey released Tuesday by two leading consumer organizations.
“There are fairly high expectations for people having to spend to show how much they care,” said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, which commissioned the study along with the Credit Union National Association.
Declining energy prices in recent months, coupled with the fact that most respondents tend to actually spend more than they admit to in the survey, should contribute to the uptick, Brobeck said.
On average, consumers are expected to spend nearly $800 each on holiday merchandise, a more than 7 percent increase from the previous year, according to data from the National Retail Federation.
Much of that money will be spent in department and discount stores, with more than 60 percent of shoppers saying they plan to shop in department stores this year — up from last year’s 53 percent — and 70 percent focusing on discount stores such as Target and Wal-Mart.
That’s good news for local malls that are preparing for the kick-off of the holiday season on Friday.
“We’ll be opening our doors earlier this year,” said Jill Schlapkohl, director of mall marketing at The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. The mall is opening its doors at 5 a.m. Black Friday in anticipation of the shopping crush. “Shoppers seem to be increasingly eager to get in there and shop earlier.”
However, despite the expected increase in spending by some consumers, 32 percent of respondents said they plan to spend less this year. Those that plan to pull back on holiday spending said general household expenses and concern over debt are the main reasons.
This data “suggests that most people in the country are living paycheck to paycheck,” said Bill Hampel, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association. Consumer spending tends to go in cycles, he said.
“People end up frustrated every January because they overdid it,” Hampel said. “And then they say they’ll spend less next year.”
