Arnold knows your pain

US households are expected to spend an average of $471 on gifts in the holiday season, up 4.9 percent from last year's estimate of $449, according to The Conference Board's survey of Christmas gift spending intentions, reports MarketingCharts.

The top Christmas spenders will be East South Central households (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee), who intend to spend $583.

Lowest Christmas spending will be in the West North Central region (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), where consumers intend to spend $397 on Christmas gifts.

One-third of all households will spend $500 or more on Christmas gifts, with 35 percent spending $200-$500 and the remaining 31 percent planning to spend less than $200.

Online Buying

This year, 38 percent of all consumers will buy Christmas gifts via the internet, the same percentage as a year ago.

Books top the list of online Christmas buying, with 40 percent saying they will buy books as gifts. Apparel and footwear came in second with 39 percent of consumers intending to purchase these gifts online. Toys/games rank third as online Christmas buying choices, followed closely by movie videos and DVDs.

Of the 38 percent who said they purchased Christmas gifts last year via the internet, 91 percent said they were satisfied with their online buying experience.

Other key findings in The Conference Board survey:

• Households headed by individuals 45-54 intend to spend the most this year, with $485 the average expenditure.
• Households headed by those aged 35-44 intend to spend $479 on gifts.
• Households with incomes of $50,000+ intend to spend $612 for Christmas gifts.

About the study: The Conference Board Christmas Spending Survey 2007 covers a nationally representative sample of 5,000 US homes and was conducted for The Conference Board in November by TNS.