Generational Index, Holiday Gift-Giving Study: Americans Watching Wallets

Most Americans plan to cut back or freeze holiday spending, though many will give homemade presents and make charitable donations, according to the GfK Roper Consulting annual holiday shopping outlook and new index that measures generational attitudes, writes MarketingCharts.

On average, Americans will spend $662 on their holiday spree, and the average gift list for both men and women includes 16 people, according to the survey.

Among other findings:

• 33 percent of shoppers plan to spend less during this holiday season than they did last year.
• Among the remaining two-thirds, more than half (52 percent) say they’ll dish out the same amount of dollars as in 2006, and just 15 percent (consisting mostly of higher-income households), anticipate an increase in their spending.
• There is, however, a contingent of individuals (13 percent) who do not plan to spend any money on holiday gifts: 4 percent say they prefer to give money directly, 8 percent say they won’t give gifts, 1 percent say they will make all their gifts.

Generational Index

GfK Roper also released its first ever “Holiday Spirit” generational index, which is based on the holiday shopping outlook and uncovers generational attitudes toward shopping, identifying those who “take it personally” and those who “take the shortcuts.”

(See “Holiday Spirit” General Index data.)

“Although the overall impression (left by the Index) is that older adults are more in tune with the holiday giving spirit, younger people come to the fore in specific areas,” explained Diane Crispell, executive editor of GfK Roper Consulting’s Roper Reports.

“The holiday season is often a juggling act for many as Americans balance their desire to express how they feel about loved ones with the end-of-year time crunch and uncertain economic future. Retailers should take note and tailor their offerings to match the shopping style of each generation.”

MarketingCharts has more findings, including top gift categories.

About the GfK Roper “Holiday Spirit” Generational Index: The data are weighted to the online panel sample of 1,013 American adults (ages 18 and older) surveyed on October 9-11, 2007. The index compares the average of several attitudinal dimensions with that of the total online population. For the purposes of this index, the generations are defined as Matures (ages 60 and up), Boomers (ages 40-59), Gen X (ages 25-39) and Gen Y (ages 18-24).