NPD issues outlook for consumers' holiday shopping habits

The NPD Group recently conducted a poll among American consumers to track their "spending intentions" for the rapidly approaching holiday shopping rush. Of the poll's 2,003 participants, 9 percent said they plan to spend more money than they did last holiday season (down from 11 percent in 2009), 61 percent said they plan to spend the same (up from 59 percent) and the number of people who plan to spend less than they did last year remained steady at 30 percent. A responsible 30 percent.

The poll also inquired what hot items would end up in respondents' checkout baskets -- 15 percent of those polled said they were planning on purchasing video games, a 5 percent decrease from last year. We know what you're thinking: "If people aren't buying video games, they're probably buying fragrances, right?" Wrong. Fragrances fell from 19 percent to 13 percent. Seeing as how those two items are consistently all we ask for during the holidays, we're not sure what everyone else is dropping their cash on.