End-of-year holiday sales are expected to be higher this year than in 2011,according to new research.

The United Services Automobile Association forecasts highersales among holiday shoppers in a summary of results from thecompany's fourth annual USAA holiday spending survey of 1,011 adultconsumers.

USAA commissioned ORC International to conduct the poll todetermine how consumers plan to approach their holiday spending andbudgeting activities this year compared to previous years' surveyson this topic.

The report indicates that consumers plan to buy more gifts thisyear as their sentiment toward holiday budgeting has become morepositive in 2012 when compared to 2011 (53% vs. 45%).

For the third year in a row, fewer holiday shoppers plan to cuttheir holiday spending and to budget holiday expenses, the surveysaid. In 2012, 24% of shoppers report plans to scale back, comparedwith 31% in 2011 and 40% in 2010.

Just over half of the survey respondents (55%) plan to budgetholiday purchases in 2012. This compares with 57% in 2011 and 61%in 2010.

This year's survey findings underscore the growing trend ofmobile shopping, the survey adds. More than half of thosepolled (56%) plan to use their mobile devices as a tool forcomparison shopping, downloading coupons, searching foravailability in stores and making purchases.

This article was orginally posted atLifeHealthPro.com, a sister site of Credit UnionTimes.