Where Americans Shop for the Holidays

After a year of high prices, high interest rates and high economic uncertainty, American consumers would have been excused to cut back on their spending this holiday season. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however, as both forecasts and preliminary estimates point towards new spending records this year.

The National Retail Federation expects consumers in the U.S. to spend an average of $885 on core holiday items including gifts, decorations, food and other holiday-related purchases this year, up 5 percent from last year's holiday budgets and just above the five-year average in expected spending. When it comes to where Americans will be splashing their holiday cash, 58 percent of people said they'd shop online while 49 percent plan to go to a department store. 48 percent are planning to shop at a discount store while 44 percent are going to make holiday purchases at a grocery store.

So while it seems that many Americans like to avoid the crowds and do most of their holiday shopping online, physical stores still have role to play during the year's busiest shopping season. In terms of getting into the Christmas spirit, shopping for gifts at a nicely-decorated store while the store radio plays some holiday classics beats hunting for bargains online every time.