With less than a week before Christmas, 20 percent of consumers haven’t begun their holiday shopping and millions more have a substantial number of names to check off their lists, according to a National Retail Federation survey. The average person has completed 64.7 percent of their holiday shopping.

The most recent weekly holiday survey, also found that 44.5 million people have not started holiday shopping, with the biggest procrastinators being men (24.2%) and 18-34 year-olds (24.2%). Just over 30 percent of consumers sais they competed finished their shopping.

“With so much shopping left to do, the weekend before Christmas will be one of the most important periods of the year for retailers,” said Tracy Mullin, NRF President and chief executive officer. “Retailers will try to make last-minute shopping easier for holiday procrastinators by offering incredible promotions and gift ideas within a certain budget or for a specific person.”

The NRF 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey is designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey, conducted by market intelligence firm BIGresearch, polled 4,117 consumers from Dec. 16 to Dec. 18. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent.

JCK