Christmas season shoppers are letting their fingers do the spending in growing numbers this year, opting to shop using the Internet more than ever, to the chagrin of malls and shopping centers.
Coupled with a lackluster economy, that spells fewer seasonal retail jobs overall, according to industry experts and retailers.
"The trend this year is staying home and doing more Internet shopping," said Bethany Perkins, spokeswoman for Manpower, an international staffing and consulting company. "Retail hiring is effectively down slightly compared to last year."
Macy's, the retail giant based in Cincinnati, plans on hiring a similar number of seasonal workers as last year, according to Nathan Shore, a company spokesman.
"Seasonal hires are important to Macy's because the holiday season is a very busy time for the retail industry and making sure our stores are ready to serve our customers is critical," he said.
Shore said temporary workers are drawn to the jobs for extra cash, the excitement of the holiday season and employee discounts.
"They cherish the merchandise discount," he said.
Macy's expects sales at stores open for more than a year in the range of down 2 percent to up 1 percent in the last three months of the year.
The growth area for temporary retail jobs is in the warehouses serving all those internet customers. Picker packers are in high demand: workers who pick merchandise off the shelves and pack them for home shipment.
Those workers are bracing for what has become known as "Internet Monday" or "Cyber Monday" - the Monday following Thanksgiving on which retailers offer big online specials to kick off the season.
According to the eHoliday Survey, conducted this fall by BizRate Research, the majority of online retailers will feature special promotions on Monday including email campaigns, one-day sales or free shipping on all purchases.
Nearly three in four online retailers are planning a special promotion for Monday, compared to less than half two years ago.
Not all the online buying will have picker packers scrambling. Gift card sales continue to surge. Since cards with magnetic strips were introduced in 2005, the gift card market has grown to $80 billion annually and will account for as much as 15 percent of holiday spending this year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Retailers expect modest sales growth of 2.5 to 2.9 percent in November and December compared to the same period last year, according to the ICSC.
"This year, the retail industry planned for a more difficult holiday season than in recent years, but the silver-lining for consumers and retailers continues to be the strength in personal income growth, which should buoy spending prospects though at a slower pace than last year," said Michael P. Niemira, ICSC's vice president.
He said consumers will be looking for value and lower-income households will be very cautious in their spending.
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