Factoids

Britt Beemer America's Research Group articles most recent first Furniture Buying Index Falls in May Consumers Shift Spending To What They Need, Not What They Want Furniture Buying Index Drops Two More Points; Wal Mart Expands Home Furnishings In Midst of Sluggish Furniture Sales Beemer - Many Retailers In Free Fall After Disappointing December August Retail Sales Surge; Home Furnishings, Accessories Lag behind Expert Predicts Back-to-School Spending to Grow Meagerly in 2007 Retail Shopping Takes A Holiday Early Indications Are For A Frugal First Quarter Independent Retailers Outperformed Chain Stores In December Britt Beemer Lowers Forecast of Christmas Retail Sales to 2.7% Rise Over Last Year; Lack of “Must Have” Item to Blame Want To Drive Shoppers Away? Decorate Stores Less and Don’t Say “Merry Christmas” 2006 Q4 Shoppers Study Revealing; Cyber Monday a Hoax, Biggest Retail Push Will Be After December 15th 10 Trends For Retail Christmas 2006 Survey; Parents Cite High Gas Prices As Primary Reason For Limiting Back To School Spending Families Reduce Summer Spending As Gas Prices Rise Or Was It? New Survey Casts Doubt On Rosie Black Friday Survey; Bargain Hunters Drive June Results Top 10 Retail Stores For April; Discounts Drive Traffic Survey Says Americans Extremely Optimist About The Future 37% Of Shoppers Noticed Less Christmas Decorations In Stores; Spent Less As A Result America’s Research Group; Shopping Levels Increasing But Still Expected To Be Lackluster 3.2% Over 2003 Lack Of Hot New Product Weighing Heavily On Holiday Shopping Survey Of Thanksgiving Weekend Shoppers; "We're Not Impressed"; 45% Say Discounts Not Enough Britt Beemer’s Christmas 2004 Sales Forecast; 19% Will Spend More Since Bush Was Reelected Seven Things Your Store’s Appearance Tells Your Customers Britt Beemer Cites Convenience As Key To Drawing Male Shoppers Beemer Lowers Christmas Sales Projection to 4.2% Increase This Year Compared To His Earlier 4.8% Sales Increase survey 31.0% of Americans Who Planned to Shop Thanksgiving Weekend Did Not Get Around To It Study Shows 11% Increase In Consumer Spending For Appliance, Electronics, Computers Britt Beemer Predicts 4.8% Increase In Holiday Spending survey Furniture Leads All Categories For Shopping Levels Over Labor Day Weekend survey Consumers Plan to Spend 10% More on Back to School Furniture Buying Index Up One Point Buying furniture is on consumers’ minds, but not a top priority Shopping Is Not a Big Priority for Many Americans The Incredible Shrinking Customer Base How Loyal is Your Customer? The Loyalty American Consumers Have Towards Brand Products

“My projection for Christmas 2003 is a 4.8% increase over a year ago, due to consumers spending more on each individual gift...”
Britt Beemer
Chairman, America's Research Group

America’s Research Group, one of the country’s leading consumer research firms, today releases the holiday shopping predictions of its chairman, Britt Beemer (bio).

“My projection for Christmas 2003 is a 4.8% increase over a year ago, due to consumers spending more on each individual gift and consumers buying more gifts this year than last year,” Beemer says.

Beemer’s holiday predictions have come within .5% of the actual 8 of the last 9 years. His forecast of 2.8% last year was spot-on.

Here are Beemer’s highlights from the ARG Christmas 2003 survey:

• Christmas week will be the big vacation week, so retailers should not count on the weekend before Christmas to save them.
   

• Consumers are moving toward shopping more from the first of December until the weekend before Christmas.
   

• Retailers note: shoppers wanting 50% off continues to grow, so waiting until a few days before Christmas to advertise 50% off could significantly affect Christmas shopping.
   

• This will be an even bigger gift certificate/gift card Christmas, breaking last year’s record-setter.
   

• The number of persons getting Christmas gifts rose from 9.1 last year to 9.76 this year.
   

• The gifts this year will be much nicer, as the average amount spent on gifts is at $36.63 this year compared to $32.28 last year. The top price range last year was $21-$25, but this year it’s $36-$50.
   

• Affinity credit card programs rewarding shoppers for using a particular card have taken hold this year, allowing consumers to feel they can spend more.

• Home entertaining is back! The number of Americans planning to entertain this Christmas is at a ten-year high.
   

• Those planning to shop on “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving, is at the lowest since 1997: “crowds” and “too early to get the real deals” are driving this new lower trend.

• “Made in America” and patriotic-themed gifts are back to pre-September 11th levels and are much less important.
   

• With no “must-have” gift item this year, consumers will pay more attention to retailer advertising and are giving more Christmas ornaments as gifts.
   

• The Internet will be bigger this year and E-Bay’s businesses should be better. Not having a store is not as big a negative today, but having a store location adds greater security and confidence for consumers.