Oct 9, 2007

Christmas in October? No thanks, shoppers sayBy Parija B. KavilanzCNNMoney.com

New York — Retailers are slashing prices to try to jumpstart holiday sales, but many Americans plan to wait until after Thanksgiving to buy gifts, according to a new survey by market research firm NPD Group.

“I spotted the first holiday set-up in a store on August 18th this year – that’s nearly a month earlier than last year,” wrote NPD’s chief retail analysts Marshal Cohen. “Retailers are looking to start the season earlier but consumers just aren’t ready.”

Retailers are trying to jumpstart holiday sales, but a new survey shows that consumers are happy to wait until Thanksgiving to buy gifts.

Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500), the world’s largest retailer, chopped prices on holiday toys by as much as 50 percent last week and plans to cut prices weekly until Christmas.

Still, 40 percent of consumers – 10 percent more than last year -said they don’t anticipate beginning their holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving, according to NPD’s 2007 Survey of Consumers’ Holiday Purchase Intentions.

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