Florida Retail Federation Expects More Spending This Easter

Florida – Floridians are expected to spend a record amount of money on Easter this year.

According to the Florida Retail Federation (FRF), a Florida trade organization, the average Floridian will spend more than $152 for the holiday, which is up 4% from last year. The national expense is expected to be a record $18.4 billion, surpassing the record of $17.3 billion set in 2016.

“With Easter falling almost an entire month later than last year, that means warmer weather and more people in the mood to spend money to celebrate,” says R. Scott Shalley, FRF President and CEO. “This is great news for Sunshine State retailers, and with more consumers spending more money, we expect stores to be busy in the days leading up to Easter.”

FRF’s counterpart on the national level, the National Retail Federation (NTF), is using a survey to anticipate how many people will make purchases, and how much they will spend, potentially splitting the $18.4 billion as follows:

• 87% will buy food, spending $5.8 billion
• 50% will buy clothes (up 45%), spending $3.3 billion (up 9%)
• 61% will buy gifts, spending $2.9 billion
• 89% will buy candy, spending $2.6 billion
• 39% will buy flowers, spending $1.2 billion
• 43% will buy decorations, spending $1.1 billion
• 48% will buy greeting cards, spending $788 million

The NTF says that shoppers will shop online, in-app, at small businesses, department stores and discount stores. Online shopping is expected to increase 21% this year.

The NFT also speculates that people will spend the holiday:

• visiting family and friends (61%)
• cooking a meal (57%)
• going to church (52%)
• eating at a restaurant (17%)
• having an Easter egg hunt (35%)
• opening gifts (16%)
• watching TV (43%)
• shopping online (10%)
• seeing a movie/shopping (9%)

Photo courtesy Africa Studio and Shutterstock.com.

Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2017.