According to the NPD's latest annual survey of consumers’ holiday spending intentions, 30% of consumers intend to spend less this holiday season than they did last year; that's a 4% increase compared to 2008. Although the recession is clearly having an impact on the market, it could have been worse, NPD noted.
“That 4 percent increase is certainly a sign of the times. On the other hand, that 4 percent is not as dramatic as it could have been,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group. “I think consumers will be looking for the right gift, rather than the most extravagant or expensive one. That combined with the soft numbers we are up against from holiday last year, and I think we will see growth, albeit a modest 0.5 to 1.5 percent.”
The top five categories - apparel, toys, movies, books, electronics - haven't changed from last year, while video games maintained a spot in eighth place. That said, slightly fewer consumers plan to buy video games this holiday (20% vs. 22% last year). That 2% doesn't appear to be a big deal, but considering that the game industry makes an enormous chunk of its annual revenue in the fourth quarter every year, we're very curious to see how these last few months of 2009 shape up.
NPD indicated that almost 50 percent of consumers said the ‘state of the economy’ will have a significant effect on their holiday spending. The recent hardware price cuts should help, but most new video games are still $50 to $60 a pop, so thrifty consumers might limit their software spending.
1 Comments
October 18, 2009
Just like the economic analyst, I think these analyst are a little behind in reading the consumer. Remember American consumers will spend money from there last paycheck on JUNK, with no savings. If they have it, they will spending it. And with more money coming it will get spent! Everywhere I go I see HUGHLY increase mall and corner mall parking lot traffic increase. And large lines at walmart and it is not even Halloween yet! The new prices of Consoles will push new consumers into the market, a new price point for a hard drive enabled xbox360, a new price point for the PS3, and new price point for the Wii. I think it will be a surprise to many. Look at Alcao earnings, IBM's, Cisco, many retailers, Every analyst is surprise! That is why the stock market burst through the 10,000 mark! They will be surprise again.