Survey: Shoppers waiting for retail bargains this holiday season

Survey: Shoppers waiting for retail bargains this holiday season Despite more than half of all U.S. shoppers saying they visited at least one store over the past weekend in search of holiday gifts, a recent survey has found that a pervasive 'bargain-hunting mentality' has taken hold this year.
   The national survey, released Sunday by consumer-behavior marketing firm America's Research Group, found that while 49 percent of respondents went shopping Saturday and Sunday, most only visited one or two stores.
   Officials from ARG said the numbers indicate a lack of seriousness in consumers' shopping trends this year.
   The survey found that nearly 55 percent of respondents that started their holiday shopping this past weekend — the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season — said they were waiting for end-of-the-holiday-season discounts.
   The numbers are likely to confirm retailers' anxieties about the impact of higher fuel prices, credit woes and a slumping housing market on consumer spending this holiday season.
   Industry watchers have predicted weak holiday sales growth and the high number of season-starting discount sales, while generating huge numbers of shoppers, are likely to cut deeply at already thin profits for retailers.
   The ARG survey also found that nearly one-third of those surveyed would finish their shopping before Dec. 24, indicating that many are waiting for further last-minute discounts.
   In addition, 23 percent of respondents said they would spend less this holiday season, which ARG said was an all-time-high, easily topping the 16 percent reporting the same in 2005 and 2006.
   A surprise from the survey was that the Wal-Mart Stores-owned Sam's Club chain topped retailer Toys 'R' Us as the place where most respondents said they would do their holiday shopping. ARG said that Sam's Club choice by respondents — the first time the warehouse chain has ever topped the Wayne, N.J., toy retailer in the survey — is another indication that shoppers are looking for bargains this season.
   ARG conducted the phone survey Saturday and Sunday, collecting responses from 801 shoppers. The survey has an error factor of plus or minus 4.3 percent.