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Easter is a hopping retail shopping season

Consumers will dole out an average of $146 on Easter spend, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual Easter spending survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics.

March 24, 2016

The American consumer is expected to be hopping around the store aisles, online and offline, this Easter holiday with a new study projecting total spend will hit $17.3 billion.

Consumers will dole out an average of $146 each, according to the National Retail Federation's annual Easter spending survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics. Over eight in 10 Americans plan to celebrate the holiday.

That projected spend is the highest in the 13 years of the study's history and well above last year's average of $140.62 per shopper, and a total of $16.4 billion, according to an announcement.

"Retailers are beginning one of their busiest times of year and are more than ready as consumers shop for spring essentials," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay stated in the announcement. "Shoppers will find promotions on a number of items on their lists, from Easter baskets to sports equipment, home goods, garden tools and more."

Top spend items include food ($5.5 billion), clothing ($3 billion), gifts ($2.7 billion), candy ($2.4 billion), and flowers ($1.2 billion).

The top shopping destination is the discount store, with 58.4 percent of consumers indicating that is where they plan to shop. Department stores land in second place with 41.4 percent of shoppers and 24.7 percent of consumers will hit local small businesses.

Yet there is also a formidable number of consumers, 21.4 percent, intending to go online to spend. That reflects a healthy jump from 18.8 percent last year. When it comes to mobile device shopping, 22.8 percent of those polled said they will research products on devices and 14.9 percent will make a purchase.

"Easter is a traditional holiday that consumers of all ages and on all budget levels celebrate with family and friends," Prosper Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow said. "Consumers have longs lists of items they need to get their spring off to a good start. Smart shoppers plan to compare prices, research the items on their lists and take advantage of promotions on things like apparel and candy."