Consumers celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah and/or Kwanzaa will spend an average of $805.65 on food items, decorations, gifts and more this holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Holiday Consumer Spending Survey. This marks the highest amount in the survey’s 14-year history and is in line with last year’s spending, $802.45.

Spending on gifts for family members this year is expected to total $462.95, up from $458.75 last year and also a survey high.

Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO, interpreted the study’s findings.

“Despite the challenges that still exist in our economy, it looks as if consumers are eager to celebrate the holidays with friends and family this year,” Shay said. “We expect consumers will tackle their holiday shopping lists with a healthy dose of optimism, tempered by a hint of caution as they look for ways to find the perfect, practical gift.”

“We continue to see positive momentum in retail sales growth, giving us reason to believe consumers will show up this holiday season as they look to take advantage of all of retailers’ promotional offerings,” Shay continued. “In an effort to attract all shoppers—from the extremely price sensitive to the online millennial—retailers will be offering exclusive incentives, low prices, price-matching, top toys and everyone’s favorite—free shipping and buy-online, pick-up-in-store offers.”

Those celebrating the holidays also will spend on gifts for friends ($77.85), co-workers ($25.95) and others, such as pets and babysitters ($28.05). Average spending on decorations will reach $53.02, and $28.67 will be spent on greeting cards and postage. Shoppers also will spend an average of $107.80 on food for the holidays.

Savvy holiday shoppers will shop around to find the perfect gift this year, with most saying they will shop at discount stores (55.9 percent), department stores (55.6 percent) and online (52.9 percent). Two in five (44.1 percent) will shop at grocery stores, and one in three (33.4 percent) will shop at clothing or accessory stores.

Of those who plan to shop online, 46.5 percent say they will take advantage of retailers’ buy-online, pick-up-in-store or ship-to-store options. Free shipping seems to be the most anticipated promotion, however—93.1 percent of online shoppers say they will use a free shipping offer when shopping for holiday merchandise.

Millennial online shoppers are most likely to take advantage of the instant gratification option when it comes to shipping and fulfillment. According to the survey, 16.7 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 15.9 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds will use a same-day delivery option when buying gifts, décor and other holiday items, compared to just 7.8 percent of the rest of the population.

Pam Goodfellow, principal analyst at Prosper Insights and Analytics, which conducted the study, found one aspect of the data particularly surprising.

“The surprise factor isn’t the numbers surrounding millennials and their planned use of retailers’ innovative digital offerings; it’s the power that this cohort of adults has when it comes to influencing retailers to speak their language,” Goodfellow said. “Young adults and millennials are incredibly savvy when it comes to finding the right gift at the right price at the right place.”

More time this holiday season will be spent browsing and buying online compared to last year—and the 10 years NRF has been tracking this. The survey found nearly half (46.1 percent) of holiday shopping will be conducted online, up from 44.4 percent last year and the highest recorded since NRF first asked in 2006.

The survey found that 21.4 percent of smartphone owners will use their device to purchase holiday merchandise this year, the highest seen since NRF first asked in 2011. Additionally, more will use their smartphone to research products (37.9 percent compared to 35.8 percent last year) and to look for a way to connect with a retail store by looking up retailer information like store hours and directions (28.4 percent compared to 26.9 percent last year). One in five (20.3 percent) will use their smartphone to look up product availability in a store.

Tablet owners plan to be just as mobile active. Nearly half (47.5 percent) will use their device to research products, and 34.5 percent will use their tablet to make a holiday purchase of some kind, similar to last year (33 percent). Nearly one in four (23.5 percent) will check for in-store availability from their tablet.

In addition to shopping for gifts, holiday shoppers will take advantage of discounts to treat themselves or their family members to a non-gift item. The survey found 55.8 percent will splurge on themselves or others for non-gift items and will spend an average of $131.59, up from $126.37 last year.

For the 14th year in a row, NRF’s holiday spending survey found that approximately 40 percent of holiday shoppers said they would begin their holiday shopping before Halloween. Another 41.5 percent say they begin their holiday shopping in November, and 18.7 will begin sometime in December.

Among consumers who start their holiday shopping early, most who shop before Halloween say it’s to spread out their budget (61.4 percent). Another 48 percent say they want to avoid the November and December crowds, and 46 percent do so to avoid the stress of last-minute shopping.

When asked which factors are the most important in their decision on where to shop during the holiday season, nearly three-fourths (73.1 percent) said sales or price discounts are a factor, and six in 10 (60.7 percent) said quality of merchandise. Additionally, 58.6 percent said selection of merchandise and two in five (45.3 percent) said a convenient location helped them decide.

And when it comes to online shopping, 46.7 percent said free shipping and shipping promotions are important factors in their decision on where to shop, and 28.3 percent responded that easy-to-use websites or mobile sites were important to them.

Additionally, 38 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds say that helpful, knowledgeable customer service is an important factor when it comes to deciding where to shop, compared to 28.4 percent of other adults. And one in 10 (10.3 percent) of 18- to 24-year-olds say layaway services are important in their destination decision. 

Nearly six in 10 (58.8 percent) consumers celebrating the holidays say they would like to receive gift cards as a gift, making this the ninth year in a row that gift cards have topped the list of most-requested items. Close behind is clothing or clothing accessories (52.2 percent) and books, CDs, DVDs and video games (40.5 percent)—though the latter is the lowest percentage seen since NRF started asking.

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