Wal-Mart tops Baby Boomer holiday spending

When it comes to shopping for Christmas, Baby Boomers favor Wal-Mart over other stores, according to a survey.

A Maritz Research poll said Wal-Mart was favored by 57 percent of Baby Boomers, the leader by 10 percentage points over second place Target and third place Best Buy (34 percent).

The poll also revealed that a growing majority of shoppers across all generations, including Baby Boomers, planned to shop online deals today -- so-called Cyber Monday.

According to the poll, 26 percent of respondents will shop on Cyber Monday, up from 20 percent in the 2007 Maritz Holiday Shopping Poll. It's expected that 60 percent of those shopping during Cyber Monday will shop while they are at work ... gotta love the speed of those network connections.

But a significant percentage of younger shoppers were still expected to fight the crowds (and the post Thanksgiving feast bloat) to shop on Black Friday, the traditional shopping sales frenzy the day after Turkey Day.

"Gen Y (53 percent) and Gen X (46 percent) are more likely to shop Black Friday sales compared to Boomers (36 percent) or the silent Generation (18 percent)," Maritz Research said in its poll analysis.

This is seen as a positive for brick and mortar stores.

“It’s good news for retailers that Gen Y hasn’t lost its penchant for Black Friday,” said Tom Krause, director of strategic consulting for Maritz Research Retail Group. “This generation is known for their impulse spending and taste for fashion so they are a great target for retailers this holiday season. Plus, according to the survey, they are the only generation saying they will spend the same as last year ($550), rather than cutting back, which could be attributed to the fact that this particular generation has never really experienced a recession.”

In fact, early returns indicate that Black Friday retail sales were up 7 percent over last year.

Here is the Maritz Research survey of most popular 15 retail stores by generation, listed in order of popularity:

Topics: Baby Boomers , culture