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Holiday Deal-Shopping Intensifies: Survey

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Holiday shoppers came out in force as the holiday season began but now are lying in wait for last-minute deals, according to a forecast released Sunday by America’s Research Group here and UBS.

“American consumers are either at home wrapping their gifts or laying in the weeds ready to pounce on last-minute deals," ARG Chairman Britt Beemer said in a statement. "There's virtually no in-between."

The ARG/UBS survey, conducted Dec. 2-4, found that with Christmas still several weeks away, 15.1% of consumers have already completed their holiday shopping — largely doing so the weekend after Thanksgiving — up from 11.5% at this time last year. Meanwhile, nearly six in 10 (58.8%, up from 47.2% in 2010), plan to wait for last-minute deals in the days just before Christmas. Specifically, an all-time high 41.1% said they're holding out to see "70% off" signs before they make their way into stores.

In other findings, the survey indicated shopping at Wal-Mart Stores is down slightly compared with last year, with 67.4% of shoppers saying they have shopped there, down from 68.5% a year ago. Online shopping in the meantime has nearly doubled, ARG said, to 25.1% of all shoppers from 13.4% last year.

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