Image credit: FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting, one of the world's largest business advisory firms conducted a market survey in the United States ahead of New Year's Eve and came to a conclusion that American consumers may spend less by 4% this holiday season compared with last year.
Polled by the firm, 33 percent of respondents said they intended to significantly cut their spending this year, 32 percent said they would spend the same and only 15 percent were willing to fork out.
Meanwhile, 80 percent of those surveyed said they intended to resort to online shopping more often than last year, pointing to the lower prices and free shipping, which, according to FTI Consulting, may indicate future growth in online sales.
The survey also said that large-scale shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday turned to be less important to consumers as the latter seek greater discounts.
However, it should be noted that the holiday sales forecasts made by companies and organizations that study the US market, sometimes differ. Thus, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) predicted a 1.9% increase in holiday sales, while the National Retail Federation (NRF) opined that holiday sales could grow from 3.6% to 5.2%.
Vladimir Malakhov, Rough&Polished
