Record US sales expected over Easter, says NRF

By

P J Gach

Published
Mar 27, 2017

Easter spending in the United States is poised to be six percent higher than last year’s spending, per the Nation Retail Federation’s annual survey. Last year, American consumers spent $17.3 billion, but this year, the estimate is pegged at $18.4 billion dollars.

A survey set out by Prosper Insights & Analytics found that 7,411 of respondents would be spending $152 each, a four percent rise in spending from last year’s amount of $146. Last year’s retail spending broke a record, but this year is on track to break another, the NRF predicting spending to be the highest in the survey’s 14-year old history.
 
Two factors seem to be influencing potential higher sales. This year, consumers have almost an entire month to shop for Easter items. The survey found that carts will be filled with purchases for clothing ($3.3 billion—per 50 percent of respondents), food ($5.8 billion—87 percent of respondents), gifts ($2.9 billion-61 percent), candy ($2.6 billion-89 percent), flowers ($1.2 billion-39 percent), decorations ($1.1 billion-43 percent) and greeting cards ($788 million-48 percent).

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The second factor is the increase of retail markdown sales. As previously reported, a study by First Insight found that 76 percent of Baby Boomers and 40 percent of Millennials polled searched specifically for discounts when shopping.

NRF’s findings echo these results: 58 percent of shoppers plan to shop at discount stores; 46 percent will shop at department stores; 26 percent will at small/local businesses and 27 percent plan to shop online.

M-commerce should also see a rise in usage. Of the smartphone users surveyed, 28 percent plan to research shopping on their devices, 9 percent will shop via apps, and 18 percent plan to use their phone to purchase items.

“Easter continues to be a traditional holiday for consumers of all ages, especially young families who are planning to spend a bit more for this celebration,” said Prosper principal analyst Pam Goodfellow.

“With the later timing of Easter, we will see more consumers shopping for special deals, especially on apparel and decorations.”

Prosper Insights & Analytics survey was conducted from March 1 to March 9, 2017. It has a margin error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.