Nearly three-quarters of Hawaii consumers said high gasoline prices are having a significant effect on their household budget as they make holiday shopping lists this year.
Even so, more than half of those polled — 60 percent — said they plan to spend about the same amount on holiday gifts as last year and 10 percent plan to spend more, according to AAA Hawaii’s third annual Holiday Shopping Poll.
Thirty percent of polled local consumers said they plan to spend "slightly less" or "a lot less" on holiday gifts this year compared with last year.
Seventy-one percent of those surveyed in October said that gasoline prices are having a significant effect on their household budget — slightly lower than the 74 percent in May who said prices were affecting budgets. At that time, Hawaii gas prices were averaging more than $4.50 a gallon. Prices this year are on track to be the most expensive ever in the islands, with a current year-to-date average price of $4.10.
Carol Pregill, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, said she expects Hawaii to trend with national forecasts that holiday spending will be up 2.5 percent to 3 percent this year.
"I periodically check the (state) Department of Taxation general excise reports — even though they’re a number of months behind in the reporting process — and Hawaii retailers seem to be trending ahead of last year as far as retail sales," Pregill said. "When you look at the big picture, holiday sales are starting earlier and earlier so our predictions on a year-to-year basis are somewhat skewed. I think the overall industry is expecting a fairly good holiday. Hawaii retailers are cautiously optimistic from what they’re telling me."
The 14 percent of surveyed local residents who said they would spend a lot less on gifts this year cited multiple reasons:
» Too many other expenses or bills, 67 percent; reduced household income, 60 percent; high gas prices, 51 percent; rising prices for household necessities other than gas, 51 percent; and unemployed member of household, 13 percent
Sixty-three percent of local consumers plan to change gift shopping habits compared with last year to get more from their holiday budgets. The top methods cited for saving include using free shipping offers online (39 percent), doing more research to get the best price (31 percent), looking for less expensive gifts (29 percent), shopping more at discount stores (21 percent), shopping online on Black Friday or Cyber Monday for deals (21 percent) and using more coupons (18 percent).
"Economic concerns and high gas prices are making consumers more careful about how they spend their holiday gift budgets," said Diane Peterson, regional manager for AAA Hawaii, whose Hawaii magazine has a savings guide of coupons.
Gift cards or gift certificates are the most popular gift item for the holidays, according to the AAA Hawaii poll. Seventy percent of those polled will have gift cards on their shopping lists.
Other popular gift categories are apparel and accessories (63 percent); toys (37 percent); books (32 percent); consumer electronics such as smartphones, tablets, or eReaders (32 percent); DVDs and videos (25 percent); jewelry (24 percent); sporting goods (22 percent); flowers and cards (21 percent); and music (20 percent).
The survey also showed that 82 percent of local consumers plan to pay for at least some gifts with a credit card, and of those shoppers, 95 percent will use a card that gives some type of rewards or cash back.
The poll was conducted online by the AAA Marketing Research Department between Oct. 4 and Oct. 20 and surveyed 361 AAA Hawaii members. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.
