Consumers to treat themselves this holiday

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/19/2011 2:40:07 PM

Washington - Although consumer plans to spend less overall during the upcoming holiday season, they are planning to spending more on apparel, electronics for themselves and their homes this year.
The National Retail Federation's latest consumer survey found the average person plans to drop $130.43 on promotionally priced, non-gift merchandise, up from $112.20 last year.
On average, consumers plan to spend about $704.18 on holiday gifts and seasonal items, down from $718.98 last year, according to the poll, which was conducted by BigResearch.
NRF is projecting retail sales for the November-December period to grow 2.8% to $465.6 billion.
Shoppers "are meticulously calculating the best ways to stretch their dollar," said NRF president and ceo Mathew Shay.
NRF predicts department stores will see an improvement in traffic this holiday season, with 56.9% of shoppers hitting the channel, compared to 54.5% last year. Discounters will also get a visit from 66.1% of consumers, up slightly from 65.1% last year.
Online retailers will see traffic from nearly half of shoppers (46.7%), an increase over 43.9% last year. Consumers who plan to