Yes, today is December 22 and Christmas is just three shopping days away. This can be a particularly opportune week for store-based retailers appealing to last-minute shoppers. And don’t forget about December 26!

Laura Heller reports the following for FierceRetailer:

“Procrastinators are in the driver’s seat this holiday with a whopping 73 percent of U.S. holiday shoppers planning to wait until the last minute. The National Retail Federation said 57 percent of shoppers had begun holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, but as the season progressed a new pattern has emerged, according to the latest American Express Spending and Saving Tracker.”

“According to the American Express Spending and Saving Tracker, most of the 73 percent (44 percent) are waiting for better deals closer to the holiday but 22 percent are still waiting until they have enough money saved up, a number unchanged from 2014. Time constraints are another factor as 20 percent of shoppers simply can’t find the time to buy, up from 16 percent in 2014.”

“‘Dec. 26 has arguably emerged as its own shopping holiday, outranking the number of people who expected to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (66 percent on Dec. 26 vs. 45 percent on Black Friday and 47 percent on Cyber Monday),’ notes the American Express report. ‘This year, more respondents than ever before plan to get some retail therapy on the day after Christmas (vs. 64 percent in 2014), spending an average of $186 (vs. $192 in 2014).'”

Also, take a look at these two FierceRetail articles about last-minute shopping:

• “30% of Consumers Do Majority of Shopping Christmas Week” 

• “Holiday Procrastinators Still Exist and Spend More“