Waiting to the last minute

The assumption has been that holiday shoppers wait to the last minute in the expectation that retailers will mark down their merchandise. Thing is, it might not be true. A survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers finds that the prospect of discounting ranked next to last among the eight choices posed to late-buying shoppers. The No. 1 reason is gift cards, which serve as a last-minute backup in the event that shoppers can't find an actual present. The second-biggest reason is that Christmas falls on a Monday, which means there's still a full weekend of shopping (expect the stores to be mobbed). Only 11 percent of shoppers surveyed by the National Retail Federation said they had completed their holiday shopping, while more than 15 percent said they haven’t even started. Survey results courtesy of WSJ's Holidaysales News Tracker.