2013 is set to be a busy year for holiday shoppers
As the holidays continue their steady approach, shoppers are preparing themselves for what is expected to be a very busy season. With personal finances recovering after a tumultuous few years, more than twice as many shoppers as in 2012 are ready to increase spending, according to the recently published "Discover Annual Holiday Shopping Survey"."
In 2012, 26 percent of prospective shoppers claimed they were prepared to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 to $1,000 on holiday expenditures. This year, that number is up to 31 percent. It's a similar story with shoppers planning to spend between $1,000 and $5,000, up 5 percent to 19 percent.
Across all socio-economic lines, shoppers are finding themselves in better financial positions than one year ago, with 52 percent claiming to have some semblance of a holiday budget in place for the upcoming season, a slight increase from 2012. In regards to gender, Discover's survey found that since 2010, men have increased spending by 15 percent, while women's purchases have gone up 22 percent. Still, both have found a little extra space in their wallets for the holidays.
How increased holiday budgets can benefit businesses
According to Accenture's "Holiday Shopping Survey," nearly three-quarters of holiday shoppers expect to complete their planned purchases by the end of November. That means businesses have only a finite amount of time to capitalize on the newly restored vigor of seasonal shoppers.
Luckily for companies hoping to corral some of the extra cash being spread around, Discover's survey showed the most effective and influential factor going in to planning holiday budgets this year is retailers' sales and promotions. For businesses, fully capitalizing on this injection of extra spending dollars into the holiday market will mean adopting the best solutions to maximize gain. By investing in address correction systems, companies can ensure the integrity of addresses, helping to guarantee all marketing materials get where they need to go, when they need to be there.