This holiday season, skip the shopping sprees and just open your wallets. Since money is the number one item on most people's lists, according to a Consumer Reports poll in the US, 58% of gift givers will oblige by giving cold cash as a gift this year.
Gift cards are another favorite holiday present to receive, allowing the recipients to do their own shopping for something they need or want, claim the results of the Holiday Shopping Poll announced November 3.
"You can't fault consumers for focusing on the fundamentals," said Tod Marks, Consumer Reports senior editor with the publication, referring to the depressed economy.
Other than cash and gift cards, electronics are the hot gifts to give and get, not surprisingly. Video games, e-books and tablet computers lead the items on wish lists this year, with video games the most popular item with adults and kids.
Other popular electronics on holiday lists include MP3 players or iPods (18%), digital cameras (14%) and GPS devices (10%). E-book readers are up 6% from last year as gifts.
The overall breakdown of gifts that Americans plan to purchase: electronics (62%), gifts cards (62%), toys (62%) and cash (58%). In addition, though most people do not list clothing on their wish lists, 68% plan to gift clothes.
Consumer Reports, an independent nonprofit organization that researches the marketplace on behalf of consumers, conducted phone surveys with 1,023 interviews with adults aged 18+ in January, and again with another 1,010 adults in October, to obtain the results.
http://www.consumerreports.org
RC
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments