More consumers are completely finished with their holiday shopping than at this point last year, according to the Christmas & Holiday Shopping Forecast released today by America's Research Group and Inmar. Of the survey respondents, 48.3% report they are 90% or all done, compared with 45.2% this time last year. The report also shows more consumers who are parents say they have finished shopping for their children, with 60.2% completely done as compared to 52.6% this time last year.

Of those consumers not yet finished their holiday shopping, 22.2% (versus 15.9% last year) say it's because they're not getting the really big discounts; and these holdouts are planning to wait until the last three days to finish up their Christmas shopping.

“It is important to note that of those who shopped this weekend, 40.9% only shopped for a few advertised items,” said Britt Beemer, chairman and CEO of America's Research Group. “The American consumer is still extremely bargain-driven considering that 41% of consumers only shopped for deals, and over 20% of shoppers stated the lack of 60%-70%-off bargains is having a major effect on their Christmas shopping.”

Online Christmas shopping has slowed over last year with 41.9% of shoppers buying gifts online last year compared to 40.1% this year. Gift card purchases are down this year, from 54.1% last year to 44.8% this year.

More consumers are using credit cards to pay for their purchases this Christmas season, up from 19.5% last year to 27.3% this year. Of those using credit cards, an increase from 56% are using their credit cards more than they planned to this Christmas shopping season, versus 45.6% last year.

“With more Americans finished with their Christmas shopping, retailers will need to pull out all the stops next weekend or they will experience negative sales levels for their stores this Christmas season,” said Beemer.

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