Holiday Shopping Trends: Will Consumers Shop More in 2012? New Study Says Yes

Pictured: An enticing holiday package , are you ready to get your shop on this season? (photo M. Hall)

This just in from the National Retail Federation (NRF): consumer shopping is expended to trend up this holiday season. “This is the most optimistic forecast NRF has released since the recession. In spite of the uncertainties that exist in our economy and among consumers, we believe we’ll see solid holiday sales growth this year,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. Both the NFR and Shop.org have released research showing that consumer confidence is up, and retailers are staffing up. It’s predicted that retailers will hire an estimated 585,000 to 625,000 seasonal employees this year. That’s good news for the US economy. Retailers are gearing up for accomodate the positive predictions. Shop.org has released its 2012 online holiday sales forecast, expecting sales to grow 12 percent over last holiday season to as much as $96 billion. A 12% increase is a very healthy increase indeed. Much of the growth is expected to come from Mobile shopping, and of course online shopping. A recent Price Grabber study of 2,500 Smartphone users estimates that 32% plan to use shopping apps for the holidays; 42% said they planned to buy both inexpensive and expensive items using their Smartphones. This is not unusual as some retailers are even offering special deals for mobile shoppers. Stay tuned, as I’ll be monitoring the mobile shopping deals and reporting on where the savings can be found.