• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, December 16, 2008

Making a list ... or maybe not--a new survey from the National Retail Federation reports that Americans are way behind on their holiday shopping, and that 41 million of us haven't even started. Only 8% say they have completely finished their shopping.

By the second week in December, the average person had completed 47.1% of their holiday shopping, down from 52.6% at this time last year. Part of the issue is that Thanksgiving was on the late side, so there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas days. And, in keeping with previous surveys, men are the biggest procrastinators (20.7% have not started shopping).

"Retailers will try to manage the rush of last-minute shoppers with expanded hours, extra employees to stock shelves, and a lot of sales and promotions," the NRF says in its release.

One change from last year, however, is the number of consumers who are sticking to their guns about not using credit cards. According to the survey, two-thirds of shoppers (66.2%) have primarily used cash, debit cards, or checks to pay for holiday purchases, up from 64.5% last year.

Practical gifts continue to be the most popular, starting with clothing (44.8% have purchased some) followed by books, CDs, DVDs, videos or video games (40.8%); toys (33.1%); and electronics (24.5%). As predicted, gift card purchases are way down: Only 24.3% of shoppers have ponied up for the cards, compared with 30.2% who had done so by this time last year.

And while they may not be buying, consumers are certainly doing their homework. A new study from Mindshare Online Research reports that more than half of holiday shoppers conduct research before buying gifts, with moms doing the heavy lifting--61% of moms say they research holiday gifts, while only 48% of child-free women say they do. And moms were more likely than non-moms to rely on customer product reviews or ratings, at 23% vs. 12%.