2015 Holiday Spending Budgets Grow; Online, Mobile Shopping At New Highs

(KCBS) -- Americans plan to spend a little more money this holiday season than last, with an increasing amount of shopping being done online and on mobile, according to an annual survey from the National Retail Federation.

The average consumer will spend just over $805, three dollars more than last year, the survey showed. That takes into account everything from gifts to decorations and food. It's the highest level in the survey's history.

Among holiday shoppers, nearly half will go online to shop - 46 percent  - while 21 percent of smartphone users will  use their devices to buy holiday gifts, according to the survey. Both those figures are the highest seen since the annual survey began in 2011.

People are also taking precautions when they buy online, picking up in stores or have the gifts shipped to the store, rather than having boxes left on the doorstep in plain view of burglars.

Self-shopping is still all the rage during the holidays, with more than of the respondents saying they will splurge on themselves, upping those purchases from last year by five dollars to more than $131 on average.

Three in four shoppers say discounts are their prime drivers when looking for gifts, and a little more than half say quality is important.

You probably won't go wrong giving gift cards out, with six in ten respondents saying they prefer them on the receiving end.