NPD Releases Shopping Activity Weekly Holiday Trends Report for the Last Two Weeks in December 2012

For the week ending December 29, 2012, The Shopping Activity Weekly Holiday Trends* report from global information company, The NPD Group, Inc., shows that an estimated 61 percent of U.S. consumers went shopping at brick-and-mortar retail stores and made a purchase, the highest level of shopping incidence during the holiday period.

Port Washington, NY (PRWEB) January 04, 2013

For the week ending December 29, 2012, The Shopping Activity Weekly Holiday Trends* report from global information company, The NPD Group, Inc., shows that an estimated 61 percent of U.S. consumers went shopping at brick-and-mortar retail stores and made a purchase, the highest level of shopping incidence during the holiday period.

Approximately 63 percent of U.S. consumers who engaged in shopping in the most recent week made a purchase, down 2 points from the prior week.    

In the last three weeks before Christmas there was a slight increase each week in shopping activity for brick-and-mortar stores with more people out shopping, more shoppers making purchases, and more dollars spent on each buying visit.

For the weeks ending December 22 and December 29, 2012 the online share of buying visits dropped to 19 percent (12/22/12) and to an estimated 16 percent (12/29/12).

"A lot of the Christmas spirit was left behind way back in Black Friday weekend," Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst at NPD Group. "We had one reason after another for consumers to say, 'I'm going to stick to my list and not go beyond it.'"

*The Shopping Activity Weekly Holiday Trends is special report from The NPD Group, Inc.'s Shopping Activity Service. The Shopping Activity Weekly Holiday Trends report will follow the weekly holiday shopping trends over the course of the 2012 holiday retail season and will be released weekly. Our Shopping Activity Services fields an online study to 4,750 U.S. consumers daily. It captures brick-and-mortar shopping behavior and online purchase behavior in general merchandise channels, including purchases of categories from apparel to entertainment to toys and video games. It excludes the following channels: grocery, drug, gas, convenience and restaurant.

** Buying visits occur when the consumer makes a purchase from a store or website. Buying visits are different from dollar or unit sales.

About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group provides global information and advisory services to drive better business decisions. By combining unique data assets with unmatched industry expertise, we help our clients track their markets, understand consumers, and drive profitable growth. Sectors covered include automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food / foodservice, home, office supplies, sports, technology, toys, video games, and wireless. For more information, contact us, visit http://www.npd.com/, or follow us Twitter at twitter.com/marshalcohen and twitter.com/npdfashion. Become a fan of Marshal Cohen at http://www.facebook.com/npdmarshalcohen and watch more on NPD's YouTube channel.

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