Consumer payment methods for purchasing holiday gifts remain consistent with 2017

Most popular holiday gifts & payment methods of 2018 unveiled. Source: shutterstock.com

Holiday shopping is in full swing and consumers still have a lot more spending to do as they check off every item on their holiday wish list, according to a new consumer sentiment survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Top gifts continue to be clothing and accessories, expected to be purchased by 59% of consumers, gift cards (56%), toys (41%) and books/music/movies (40%).

Spending on gift cards is on the rise and is expected to reach $29.9 billion, up from last year’s estimated $27.6 billion.

For girls, Barbie tops the list of must-have toys for the fourth consecutive year, followed by other dolls. For boys, LEGOs are again at the top of the list, followed by cars and trucks and video games.

Consumer payment methods for purchasing holiday gifts remain consistent with 2017. Credit cards continue to be the most popular form of payment, used by 42% of shoppers. Debit cards are a close second, used by 39%, while 17% of consumers plan to pay with cash and 2% will use checks. Forty-four percent of consumers plan to use emerging payment methods: PayPal (35%), Apple Pay (8%), Samsung Pay and Google Wallet (tied at 5%) and Venmo (4%).

The survey, which asked 7,516 consumers about holiday shopping plans, was conducted October 29-November 7, 2018, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.

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