• by Masha Geller , December 19, 2002

Get ready to fight the crowds this weekend. According to BIGresearch, the average consumer had completed only 49.3% of his or her shopping as of last Thursday, December 12. While only 15.0% of consumers were finished with their holiday shopping, almost one-third (30.5%) had completed 10% or less (I’m finally a statistic!)

And who said women and men have different holiday shopping habits? Looks like both genders are dragging their feet this season -- though women have completed more of their shopping than men, the difference is lower than expected (52.2% vs. 46.1%).

The study also found that younger consumers are more likely to have put off this year’s shopping until the last minute. Almost half (45.4%) of consumers 18-24 have completed less than 10% of their shopping, and the average 18-24 year-old has completed an average of 39.0% of his or her shopping. In contrast, most consumers over 65 years old (53.9%) have at least 75% of their shopping completed.

This majority of last-minute holiday shoppers plan to frequent discounters for final gifts, with 56.6% of consumers planning to shop at discounters for the remainder of their shopping. An additional 32.5% expect to shop at traditional department stores, an encouraging 28.1% will shop on the Internet (there’s still hope!), and 25.7% will visit specialty retailers.

Traditionally, the Saturday before Christmas is the busiest shopping day of the year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. NRF continues to project an increase of roughly 4.0% in holiday sales this year over last year, bringing estimated revenues of $209.3 billion this holiday season.