Americans tighten belts and seek out sales

More evidence has been released that Americans will be tightening their belts this holiday, yet many still intend join in the 'mall mania' and go shopping on Black Friday.

by Helen Leggatt

The latest American Pulse survey from BIGresearch found that over half of Americans, 57%, say the current state of the economy will mean they spend less this year.

The survey of over 4,300 respondents found that many will seek out sales this year and 32% will head online to do so.

Even so, almost a quarter of those surveyed will be taking a trip to the mall during Black Friday, looking for discounts and deals. However, the survey found that despite many retailers offering 'layaways', under 10% said they were likely to take advantage of them and 47% said they would not.

Other gift-related findings from the complimentary report (registration required) include:

• 39.5% would rather receive a gift, 32.7% say a gift card.
• 60.7% say gift cards are a smart gift alternative for people they don't know well.
• 36.4% hate to return gifts because it's a hassle.
• 15.8% have "re-gifted" gifts, 13.8% say the same about gift cards.
• 12.3% have received gift cards they've never redeemed and 13.3% have received gift cards they've only partially redeemed.

Tags: Black Friday, gift card, gifts, layaway, malls, online shopping, re-gift, sales