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20/12/2011 -
The holiday shopping season is far from over, even as retailers have enjoyed record online and Thanksgiving weekend sales figures. According to a survey released this week by Visa, more than three-quarters of consumers - 77 percent - still need to buy holiday gifts this week.The report estimates these last-minute shoppers will spend an average of $278 in the final days leading up to Christmas and Hanukkah. As much as 13 percent of respondents claimed they plan to do all of their shopping in this final week. Considerably more - 51 percent - plan to purchase a quarter of their gifts this week.
"With this many Americans still desperate to buy gifts, we are officially in the red zone for 'panic shopping,'" said Jason Alderman, senior director of global financial education at Visa. "When shoppers panic, they throw money at the problem and often overspend to get a gift - any gift - in time for the holidays."
Merchants should prepare for the swarm of last-minute shoppers by beefing up deals for procrastinators, staffing accordingly and expanding their credit card processing options to accept Visa or American Express.
