U.S. households plan to spend an average of $576 on gifts this holiday season, up from $538 last year, The Conference Board reports today. About 11 percent of consumers say they plan to spend more this year on holiday gifts, up from about 8 percent last year, while approximately 27 percent plan to spend less, down from 32 percent. The remaining 62 percent plan to spend about the same as last year.

The survey of holiday gift spending intentions, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The survey was conducted for The Conference Board in October as part of the Consumer Confidence Survey®. 

"Continued job growth, low gas prices, and a relatively confident consumer will help boost retail sales this holiday season," said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. "While this season is shaping up to surpass last year's, consumers are still unwilling to pay full price for gifts. The majority say they will be on the lookout for bargains and incentives."

More than three out of every five holiday shoppers say they expect at least a quarter of their purchases to be on sale or discounted. And, the number of consumers shopping online continues to grow. Nearly three-quarters say they expect to purchase at least some of their holiday gifts online, while more than one out of four say more than half of their gifts will be purchased online.