Shoppers are holding out until the last minute to finish, or even start, their holiday shopping amid a growing trend of procrastination.

“This year consumers are shopping later,” Michael P. Niemira said at the beginning of December. Niemira, chief economist and director of research with the International Council of Shopping Centers, said he saw this pattern develop last year. “It is the nature of the consumer to buy closer to the need,” he said, but added there wasn’t “one overriding reason” for the pattern.

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