BTW News Briefs

NRF Sees Hope in Year’s First Holiday Survey

Although the economy is still impacting shoppers, the National Retail Federation said that there are glimmers of hope in its first holiday survey of the season.

Among the key findings of NRF’s 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch:

• U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $688.87 on holiday-related shopping, with total spending on gifts estimated to reach $518.08, a 2.1 percent increase over last year.

• Fewer shoppers (61.7 percent) say the economy will impact their spending, compared with 65.3 percent last year.

• The majority of shoppers said that sales or price discounts (41.8 percent) or everyday low prices (12.7 percent) will be most important this holiday season; however, the number of people citing customer service as the most important factor rose from 4.4 percent last year to 5.3 percent this year.

• Traditional categories, such as clothing (48.2 percent) and books (47.3 percent) will appear on a majority of wish lists this year, and gift cards will remain the most requested holiday gift, with 57.0 percent of people asking for them.

• The number of people saying they will make a holiday purchase from a discounter dropped from 70.1 percent last year to 65.1 percent this year.

• More than 25 percent of American adults with smartphones are expected to use the devices to research or make holiday purchases, with that number reaching 45.0 percent among young adults ages 18 - 24.

• The number of consumers who will take advantage of holiday sales to make non-gift purchases for themselves is expected to increase by about 8 percent, from $101.37 in 2009 to $107.50 this year.

• NRF continues to expect holiday sales to rise 2.3 percent to $447.1 billion.

Jon Meacham Joins Random House as Executive Vice President

Jon Meacham, the former editor of Newsweek magazine and the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion, will become executive vice president and executive editor at Random House Publishing Group, beginning January 3. He will report to Gina Centrello, president and publisher of the Random House Publishing Group.

Plans call for Meacham to acquire and edit a select number of nonfiction titles each year, with a particular emphasis on works of history, biography, and religion. In addition, he will advise Centrello on a broad scope of publishing opportunities and explore potential digital-publishing initiatives.