According to the latest ChangeWave Research Holiday Spending survey, Americans will be finding more presents under their tree this year than last - and lots of them will be consumer electronic devices. Overall consumer spending is finally improving. Importantly, spending for the holidays looks significantly better than it did a year ago, with 36% of respondents saying they'll spend more (up 9 percentage points from October 2005) and only 19% saying they'll spend less (also 9 percentage points better than October 2005).

Rockville, MD (PRWEB) November 28, 2006 -- He's making a list and checking it twice, but this year Santa doesn't appear to care if you've been naughty or nice. According to the latest ChangeWave Research Holiday Spending survey, Americans will be finding more presents under their tree this year than last - and lots of them will be consumer electronic devices.

And surprisingly, the greatest spending increases are occurring in households making less than $50,000 per year. A total of 3,448 ChangeWave Alliance members participated in the November 8-14, 2006, survey, which found that after three consecutive surveys of slower growth, overall consumer spending is finally improving. Importantly, spending for the holidays looks significantly better than it did a year ago, with 36% of respondents saying they'll spend more (up 9 percentage points from October 2005) and only 19% saying they'll spend less (also 9 percentage points better than October 2005).

"Our survey respondents also report they are giving more gifts for the holidays this year," said Paul Carton, Director of Research for ChangeWave. "And surprisingly, the greatest spending increases are occurring in households making less than $50,000 per year." Among these households, an astonishing 32% now say they'll spend more over the holidays (16 percentage points higher than in last year's survey).

And where is this additional spending power going? Better than one-in-two respondents (52%) say they'll spend more money on consumer electronics devices during the holidays - a jump of 9 percentage points from a year ago and the highest number recorded in a ChangeWave Research consumer survey.

Surging demand for digital cameras, iPods, laptops and High Def TVs top the list of "must have" goodies. In particular, the jump in digital camera sales is great news for manufacturers - with 27% of respondents saying digital cameras are at the top of their wish lists this holiday season. The big winner here is Canon (CAJ), the leading camera manufacturer among both current owners and those planning to buy a digital camera.

Another big winner of this year's holiday shopping spree is the Apple iPod (13%) which, according to ChangeWave's metrics, will be seeing holiday sales just as explosive as last year.

In addition, the good news stretches beyond consumer electronics and includes a big jump in restaurant spending, with 32% of respondents saying they'll spend more on restaurants and everyday entertainment over the next 90 days. That's 10 percentage points higher than a year ago, and the strongest showing in over two years.

On the downside, spending on household repairs/improvements over the holidays looks to be lower than at any other time of the past two years.

The ChangeWave Alliance is a network of 9,500 highly qualified business, technology, and medical professionals in leading companies of select industries-credentialed experts who spend their everyday lives working on the frontline of technological change. ChangeWave surveys its Alliance members on a range of business and investment research and intelligence topics, collects feedback from them electronically, and converts the information into proprietary quantitative and qualitative reports.

For a copy of the entire ChangeWave Research Survey, please contact Darlene March, 949-975-1858, ext. 260

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