Food for thought: Bill Hutchinson Sr., owner of Hutchinson’s Classic Bakery at Bustleton and Byberry, said the busiest day at his bakery is Christmas Eve. He expects to sell between 100 and 200 of his pound cakes.
Santa’s helpers are going to spend a little more on Christmas this year, and, according to a national survey released earlier this month, most of America’s consumers are going to lay down a good chunk of that money in their local neighborhoods.
That’s great news for retailers, most of whom pin their revenue hopes to the holidays, and it’s also great news for consumers, who say they will be shelling out more because they’re feeling better about their own and the nation’s finances.
This year, consumers are going to spend an average of $1,299, about 13 percent more across the board — on gifts, entertaining, socializing and, well, you name it — than in 2013, according to the 2014 Deloitte Holiday Survey. The poll of more than 5,000 Americans released Nov. 10 has details of almost every imaginable aspect of holiday spending from what people like to give, what they like to get, where and how they like to shop and what they want to see in stores.
Deloitte LLP, an international financial service and auditing company, has gauged the consuming public’s spending spirit for 29 seasons. Here are the highlights of this year’s survey:
• Most consumers expect to spend 9 percent more on gifts, which account for about a third of what they’ll spend on average for the holidays.
• Sixty-eight percent of those who responded to the survey said they intend to shop locally and expect 35 percent of their total holiday spending will go to local merchants. Convenience and uniqueness of gifts are a couple reasons for that, but many simply feel that they should support local stores.
• Gift cards remain the popular gifts, but they’re not as hot as they were in 2007.
• Shoppers are worried about data breaches at retailers. Some big stores last year reported hackers tapped into their computers to steal credit information about their customers. According to Deloitte, 74 percent of consumers are concerned this could happen to them.
• Although most consumers will visit at least four places to make their holiday purchases, the Internet remains the most popular shopping venue, with 45 percent saying they expect to do some shopping on the Web. Although they might browse online, most consumers — about 68 percent — prefer to make their actual purchases in brick-and-mortar stores. Still, there are some who do it the other way round — window shop in the real world and actually buy online.
• Although most people, about 53 percent, already have started their holiday shopping, many are going to shop and ship later in the season.
Black Friday will come and go without Normandy resident Dan Spitko participating. He is going to be one of those late-season shoppers. Very late.
“I go Christmas Eve,” he said. He’ll go the stores in Philadelphia Mills “and I’ll walk down the aisles and see what I want.”
A lot of the shoppers who responded to Deloitte’s survey have some hard fiscal reasoning behind their delay. They’re waiting for price cuts as the season closes in on the big day itself. Forty-three percent will do most of their holiday shopping in December.
Bill Hutchinson Sr., owner of Hutchinson’s Classic Bakery at Bustleton and Byberry, is hoping for more cooperative weather this shopping season. He said snow in December 2013 kept a lot of customers home.
“Last year was horrible,” he said.
Weather forecasters last week were worried that Philly could get snow the day before Thanksgiving, but the meteorological predictions changed by Monday, with snow bypassing the region, but not rain.
Hutchinson said the busiest day at his bakery is Christmas Eve. He expects to sell between 100 and 200 of his pound cakes. Of course, he said, on Christmas Eve, everybody just has to buy something.
“I’ll get an offer on my tape dispenser,” he said.
Most men don’t budget their holiday spending as much as women do, according to Deloitte, and Spitko is no exception. He doesn’t have many people to buy gifts for and although “I’m not spending $50,000,” he does expect to spend a little more this year.
Spitko also believes he’ll spend more on home entertaining. Deloitte’s survey respondents said they will spend 22 percent more on holiday entertaining in their homes than they did in 2013. For Spitko, that means shopping in supermarkets, bakeries, delis, beer distributors and liquor stores.
Ditto for Michelle Borbidge, another Normandy resident, although she’s going to visit a party store, too.
“People are shopping early,” she said.
Borbidge expects to spend about 9 percent more on gifts than she did last year, which is the average jump Deloitte projected for American consumers. The survey points to an average of $458 spent on gifts compared to $421 last year.
Gift cards will be chosen by 43 percent of this year’s Christmas shoppers. In 2007, that percentage was 69.
Borbidge is going to buy some gift cards, and she’s definitely going to shop locally.
“I think you’re familiar with the stores and malls nearby,” she said. “And you get to know some of the sales people.”
According to the Deloitte survey, 48 percent of the respondents said knowledgeable salespeople increase the likelihood they will make a purchase.
Ken Farren, co-owner of Batteries & Bulbs, 2118 Cottman Ave., said his customers often compliment him on the help they get at the store. Batteries & Bulbs opened in October, so this will be its first Christmas shopping season.
Deloitte said shoppers look to local stores to provide them with unique gift selections. Farren said Batteries & Bulbs sells more than batteries and bulbs, but the store sells a lot of them and other related items. Laptop batteries aren’t that easy to find, but the Cottman Avenue store has them as well as 50 kinds of flashlights, which Farren said are great gifts for dads.
The top three items shoppers want to give this year? Clothing, gift cards or gift certificates, and, believe it or not, books.
Almost two-thirds of the consumers who do their holiday shopping in the malls will not change this year. Just 7 percent told Deloitte they expect to do more mall shopping; 28 percent feel they’ll do less.
Forty-five percent expect to do some Christmas shopping on the Internet. Forty-four percent will patronize discount department stores, and 30 percent will go to traditional department stores.
If you see other shoppers on their smartphones or tablets, don’t be surprised. Seventy-two percent of the survey’s respondents said that they used social media sites, and 45 percent of those people expect to use those sites while Christmas shopping. They’re looking for gift ideas, coupons and sale information.
And, for those using calendars, counting Thanksgiving, there are just 28 shopping days ’til Christmas. ••
A local level…
How will Northeast residents spend their money during the holidays? Sixteen members of the Normandy Civic Association were polled during their Nov. 11 meeting at the Norcom Center. They were asked if they intended to shop locally, if they thought they’ll be spending more money this holiday season and if they’ll be doing more holiday entertaining at home this year when compared to what they did in 2013.
Here are the results of this very informal and unscientific poll:
• All 16 people surveyed expect to do some shopping locally this year, although some had expansive notions of what “locally” means.
• Of the Normandy residents polled Nov. 11, more than half don’t believe they’ll spend any more this year than they did in 2013. Only a quarter of them expect to shell out more. Just three think they’ll be paying less than they did last year.
• Three of the four who anticipate increases felt they will be spending more money because they have more money this year. One just felt prices would be higher.
• Ten of the 16 polled said they thought they’d be doing more holiday entertaining in their homes than they did in 2013. ••
Santa’s coming to town: This weekend marks some of the biggest shopping events of the year, including Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Above, Fred Lamberti, who has participated in the Mayfair Holmesburg Thanksgiving Parade for more than 20 years, dresses as Santa. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTOS
