Is Consumer Spending Looking Up this Holiday Season?

Considering the latest financial headlines, you would assume that the vast majority of the US population would be planning on sizable spending cutbacks this holiday season. However a recent survey by ABI Research has shown that not all consumers intend to cut back on spending, and some are even thinking of spending more than last year.

“ABI Research is anticipating that all consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers are right to expect difficult times ahead,” says research director Michael Wolf. “But we also believe that there are certain segments that will fare better than others, including digital TVs and video game software.”

While 47% plan to decrease spending during the 2008 end-of-year holidays, a surprising 40% expect to spend about the same as usual, and 13% – mostly younger consumers – actually foresee a spending increase.  Wolf continues, “One surprising result was that 18% indicated that they were planning on purchasing an HDTV this holiday season, a relatively big-ticket item when compared to the other products we asked about. This result is likely due to a couple of factors, one being that many consumers are likely gearing up for the digital TV transition in February, 2009. Another perhaps more important factor is that overall HDTV prices have continued to plunge.”

This could be good news for product manufacturers and retailers looking to meet investor expectations, however several other ‘holiday dependent’ industries such as advertising and luxury goods expect to have a difficult December.

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