Almost half of consumers will shop online this holiday season, and free shipping factors into their buying decisions, says a National Retail Federation survey. 

Online shopping will account for almost half of purchases this holiday season. Consumers, on average, said 46% of their holiday shopping this year will be done online, up from 44.4% in 2014, according to the National Retail Federation.

Free shipping? Count consumers in. This holiday shopping season, 93.1% of consumers surveyed by the NRF said they plan to take advantage of free shipping offers when shopping online.

Buy online, pickup in store or ship-to-store options rank high in importance, too, with 46.5% of consumers saying they plan to use such a service this holiday season, according to the survey released Tuesday. The NRF’s 2015 Holiday Consumer Spending Survey polled 7,276 consumers Oct. 5-13. It was conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.

“In an effort to attract all shoppers—from the extremely price-sensitive to the online millennial, retailers will be offering exclusive incentives, low prices, price-matching, top toys and everyone’s favorite—free shipping and buy online pick up in store offers,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said.

Consumers ages 25-34 lead the pack in online holiday shopping; on average, this group will do 54.3% of shopping online. Among consumers 35-44 years old, 50.2% of their holiday shopping will be online, followed by the 18-24 age group at 48%, 45-54 at 45.9%, ages 55-64 at 42.5% and consumers 65 and older at 36.3%.

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Smartphone and tablet use continues to grow. Among smartphone owners surveyed, 21.4% said they plan to purchase products using their phones—the highest rate since the NRF first asked in 2011. 37.9% said they plan to research products and compare prices on their phones. For tablet owners, 34.5% said they plan to buy goods on their devices, while 47.5% said they’ll use their tablets for research and to compare prices.

Average overall spending in 2015 will be $805.65 per person, comparable to $802.45 per person in 2014, the survey found. Spending on gifts for family members will total $462.95, up from $458.75 last year and a survey high.

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