Capitalizing on this season's frugal holiday shopping habits

New research from the Conference Board, a business research association, predicts that American households will spend an average of $497 on holiday gifts this year. In addition, only 7 percent of shoppers expect to spend more on gifts this season than they did last year, while 40 percent of survey respondents said they planned to spend less than last year during their holiday shopping excursions, indicating a particularly frugal shopping attitude should be expected in coming weeks.

According to a study conducted by BDO USA, retailers in the country are projecting a modest 2.9 percent increase in total holiday sales this holiday season. Overall, 41 percent of the chief marketing officers surveyed expect to see increased sales, which is less than the 52 percent from 2010 and 47 percent in 2009.

While sales projections for the holiday shopping season are far from rosy, small businesses will be poised to get the most from shoppers who do open their wallets by engaging in proactive multi-channel marketing campaigns that include telemarketing, direct mailing lists and online promotions. Shoppers this season may be frugal, but they still plan on spending, so it is important that small businesses do their best to get on these consumers' radars.