Press Release

Spending on Holiday Decorations Expected to Top $16 Billion in 2006

Outdoor balloons were the fastest growing category last year and expected to continue their upward surge this holiday season, reports Unity Marketing

Stevens, PA December 1, 2006 - About 80 percent of American households will 'deck the halls' this holiday season with new decorations, according to a new survey by Unity Marketing among holiday and seasonal decorators. Spending on new holiday decorations reached $15.8 billion in 2005, up 7.4 percent over $14.7 billion in 2004 and is likely to grow another 5-to-7 percent this year. The Christmas holiday accounted for over half of the total holiday decorations market in 2005 or $8.5 billion.

In addition, Americans spent $2.4 billion on seasonal decorations last year, bringing the total market for holiday and seasonal decorations to $18.2 billion in 2005.

Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the new book Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, says, "People today are expressing a growing desire to use holiday and seasonal decorations to create a mood that will enhance family celebrations. The passion for holiday and seasonal decorations goes along with the whole new 'do-it-yourself' trend. People want to get off the day-to-day treadmill and enjoy simpler pleasures that tap their creative reserves. Expressing themselves through holiday decorating is one way people renew themselves."

Unity Marketing has identified three key trends related to holiday and seasonal decorating based upon a quarterly survey of 600 consumers who celebrate holidays and occasions with gifts and home decorations.

• Holiday decoration spending continues to shift toward fourth quarter celebrations - While Christmas decorations make up the largest share of the decorations market, Halloween was the fastest growing holiday in 2005, reaching $2.7 billion in sales. In 2003 about 70 percent of the total holiday decorations market was generated for fourth quarter holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. This increased to 75 percent of the total market in 2005.
• People are spending more on outdoor decorations - In 2005 the total market for outdoor holiday decorations grew nearly 15 percent over 2004 to reach $3.8 billion. This compares to 5.3 percent growth in spending on indoor decorations. The three biggest categories for outdoor decorating are flowers, plants and wreaths; outdoor lights and lighted sculptures; and flags, banners and signs, with all of these categories posting double-digit growth.
• Outdoor balloons were the fastest growing category in 2005 and expected to be for 2006 - The new balloon inflatable decorations are gaining traction in the market with sales expected to top $500 million in 2006, up from only $100 million in 2003. "Inflatables are big and bold - just what you want when it comes to outdoor decorating," Danziger says. In the third quarter 2006 some 20 percent of decorations-buying consumers purchased outdoor balloons, a significant increase over the 10 percent who made purchases in the category last year.

Unity Marketing will publish a new study of the seasonal and holiday decorating market in early 2007. The new study will update Seasonal Decorating Report, 2004: The Who, What, Where, How Much, and Why of Holiday and Seasonal Home Decorating, with new survey information about the decorating and purchase behavior of consumers. For more information about the study, visit http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/christmas/

For media: Charts, tables and graphs are available by request to 717-336-1600.

Author Pam Danziger is available for interviews about Christmas 2006 gift spending and holiday decorating.

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing

Pamela N. Danziger is a nationally recognized expert specializing in consumer insights, especially for marketers and retailers that sell luxury goods and experiences to the masses or the 'classes.' She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.

Advising such clients as Cartier, PPR, Rémy Amerique, Ritz Carlton, Stearns & Foster, Prudential Fine Homes, Waterford/Wedgwood, Philips/Norelco, The World Gold Council, The Conference Board and American Express, Danziger taps consumer psychology to help clients navigate and master the changing consumer marketplace.

She is the author of Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience (Kaplan, October 2006) . Her other books include Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses-as well as the Classes, (Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2005) and Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

She has appeared on CNN's In the Money, NBC's Today Show, CNBC, CNN International, CNN, CBS News Sunday Morning, Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, ABC News Now, NPR's Marketplace and is frequently called upon by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, American Demographics, Women's Wear Daily, Forbes, USA Today, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune for commentary and insight.

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