NRF Issues Easter Spending Predictions

Aside from the religious implications, Easter’s a sort of optional holiday for many people.  It’s possible to hold feasts and buy all sorts of stuff, or just toss the kids a chocolate rabbit.  And unfortunately, at least a few more people than usual will be leaning towards the laidback approach this year.

The National Retail Federation has issued a report covering the categories of food, gifts, flowers, candy, and clothing, and it states that 2009 spending in all of these areas won’t compare favorably to 2008′s totals.  Average overall spending will in fact decrease from $135.03 to $116.59.

Small businesses can still make the holiday work to their advantage, though.  Perhaps consider stocking cheaper products than you usually would, or just wasting less shelf space on the top-tier stuff.

Or, as NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin pointed out, "With Easter falling so late this year, retailers will have plenty of time to entice shoppers with deals on spring apparel and other Easter merchandise."  So you might ramp up advertising efforts and hope the warm weather and no-longer-plummeting state of the Dow will put people in the mood to spend.

At the least, there’s this comforting number: $12.73 billion.  That’s how much the NRF expects adult Americans to spend on Easter even if nothing changes.