U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $497 on gifts this holiday season

U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $497 on gifts this holiday season, The Conference Board reports today. Only 7 percent of consumers said they plan to spend more on holiday gifts this year, while approximately 40 percent plan on spending less than last year.  

The survey of holiday gift spending intentions, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The survey was conducted for The Conference Board in October.  

"As the holiday season approaches, we once again find consumers in a frugal mood," says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "With the overwhelming majority of consumers expecting to spend the same or less than they did last year, it's not surprising that they expect a large share of their purchases to be on sale or discounted."

Consumers will be heading to the malls and online searching for bargains. Four out of ten holiday shoppers say they expect more than half of their purchases to be on sale or discounted. An additional three out of ten expect a quarter to half of their purchases to be discounted.

Close to two-thirds of consumers expect to purchase a portion of their holiday gifts online, with about 15 percent saying more than half of their gifts will be purchased online.

Source: The Conference Board Holiday Spending Survey, November 2011