Discount Retailers Likely To Benefit at Holidays

Stamford, CT, Oct. 11, 2010--Wal-Mart and other discounters are likely to attract a bigger share of holiday shoppers this year as budget-conscious consumers seek discounts, according to a survey by Consumer Edge Research.

The amount of consumers who said they plan to do more holiday shopping at Wal-Mart exceeded the share of those who expected to do less by 22 percentage points, according to the survey.

Other retailers that may profit from shoppers’ caution include Amazon.com Inc., EBay Inc., and Target Corp.

“While consumers are indicating they will be spending about as much on the holidays this year as they did last year, they are also indicating they will be increasing their holiday shopping at the discount retailers, likely to seek out the best deals possible,” analyst Bill Pecoriello said in the report.

The Consumer Edge survey also found that 27% of shoppers plan to spend less overall this year, compared with 13% who said they will spend more.