When and Where Show Little Variation By Age, Gender,or Level of Wealth

The majority of the affluent will do most of their shopping for holiday gifts during the first two weeks of December, and traditional department stores will be the most important source of gifts, based on dollars spent, according to a recent survey of the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households.

About one in four said they would do most of their holiday gift shopping before Thanksgiving, while 60% plan to do most of their shopping during the first two weeks of December. About 12% plan to wait until the week before the holiday. A total of 3% will wait until the after holiday sales. Only a few (4%) planned to venture out to do most of their shopping during the busy Thanksgiving weekend, often the biggest shopping days of all for many.

The traditional department store will be the number one gift source for 32% of all respondents, with discount department stores and specialty retail stores virtually tied at about one in five of the affluent shoppers. Named by 16%, the internet will be a close fourth.

The discount department store and the internet were named more frequently than in 2004 as the most important source, as the first place mentions for traditional department stores and specialty retail stores declined slightly.

Traditional department stores, at 75% of the respondents, received the most total mentions. Specialty retail stores at 66% were in second place, discount department stores at 56% were third, and the internet at 53% was fourth. Total mentions of discount department stores increased as wealth declined, and total mentions of the internet were highest among those under 50 (64%) and those with incomes above $200,000 (58%).

These results were obtained from the recently completed Fall 2005