Nielsen released some figures on holiday shopping trends as the season approaches. For many, it’s already here.

The holiday shopping season may not be getting off to as big a bang as it did last year, but it’s obviously expected to ramp up significantly very soon.

“Entering the fourth quarter of 2014, retail sales remained sluggish and weaker than they were this time last year,” Nielen reports. “Consumer confidence in the U.S. has been trending upward; however, uncertainty persists, and many consumers still report feeling as though they are still in a recession. That uncertainty and a sluggish equity market could dampen spending this season. Spending over the next few weeks, however, should pick up for retailers, buoyed by positive trends in the job and housing markets, coupled with low fuel prices and lower inflation.”

“Overall, Nielsen expects Americans to up their holiday spending by almost 2% this year, and 22% of us have already made the transition from thinking about the holidays to actually making purchases,” it adds. “When it comes to the battle of the sexes, women are in the lead in terms of jumping into the ring early. In fact, 27% of women say they’ve started their shopping, dwarfing the 12% of men who are in the same camp. And while many men and women say they plan to wait to shop, 10% of women and 18% of men say they’re not going to shop at all this year.”

The report finds that of the 22% of households who are already shopping, 30% have five or more members, and 32% have children under 12.

Additional findings:

All of this info comes from a pair of studies, including a survey of over 25,000 U.S. households in September and sales forecats from an analysis of 92 categories representing $100 billion in sales.

Images via Nielsen