Consumers' Easter Spending to Hit $16.4B

Consumers are planning to spend an average of $140.62 on Easter items this year, up slightly from last year's $137.46, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Total spending is expected to hit $16.4 billion.

Of the 80 percent of consumers who plan to celebrate the spring holiday, 85.7 percent will purchase food for a family meal or other festivity, spending more than $5.3 billion, and 87.1 percent of those celebrating say they will buy candy, spending more than $2.2 billion on jelly beans, chocolate bunnies and similar fare.

Additionally, 45 percent will purchase clothing, spending more than $2.9 billion on bright-colored apparel, and many consumers will also take the opportunity to buy gifts ($2.4 billion), flowers ($1.1 billion), decorations ($998 million) and greeting cards ($695 million).

“Easter will be the perfect segue into spring for both consumers and retailers who have longed for warmer weather for quite some time,” said NRF President/CEO Matthew Shay. “As one of the busiest times of year for several retail sectors and as shelves begin filling with both traditional spring and holiday merchandise, retailers are looking forward to welcoming shoppers with attractive promotions on home goods, garden equipment and traditional Easter items.”

The NRF 2015 Easter Spending Survey was conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics from March 3-10, 2015, and polled 6,106 consumers.

NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries.