Looking to provide some information about the upcoming holiday season’s sales trend, Change Wave Research released a report on consumer spending.

The survey includes the opinions of 3,699 consumers and the data was collected between October 23 and November 3. The general conclusion is that the country is about to experience a “massive breakdown in consumer spending,” which will have a great impact on all retailers.

Only 8 percent of people questioned stated that they plan to buy a laptop over the next 90 days, down from last year’s 11 percent, while 6 percent plan to buy a desktop machine, two points lower than last year’s estimates.

“It’s not easy to increase market share in one of the worst spending environments in years,” stated research director Paul Carton.

Even though the general sales trend appears rather dark, there are two companies which are actually looking forward to the holiday season. Apple and Dell came out looking very good, with increasing figures. Apple attracted one third of the people interested in buying a laptop over the next three months. 7 percent of the people interviewed said they intend to acquire an aluminum Apple laptop, while another 6 percent expressed their interest in the old plastic MacBooks available for $999.

Mr. Carton addressed Dell evolution: “Something quite unusual is happening with Dell. For the first time in nearly three years, Dell consumer planned purchases look positively upbeat.” The company grew 11 points, reaching 37 percent. In his opinion, the explanation is simple: the company offers the right features, customizable configuration and also good reviews. Still, he explained that the results can be interpreted in different manners: “Importantly, consumer purchases represent less than 20% of Dell’s overall PC revenue, with the vast bulk of it coming from the corporate side — where the IT spending pullback during 2008 has had a brutal impact on Dell and other PC manufacturers. Moreover, there are no signs that the overall PC market will be improving at any point in the near future. Rather, the recession continues to pick up steam,” he said.

These fluctuations are directly linked to the U.S. economy and the poll notes that 59 percent of the country’s consumers plan to spend less in the next 90 days than they did in the last few months, while only 10 percent stated that they plan to spend more, recording a drop of over 18 percent from September’s estimates.

The tough holiday season will surely also affect the two market leaders and Mr. Carton explained it very well: even though Apple and Dell appear to be supported by solid demands, things must be analyzed in perspective, as "They're in a diminishing pie overall," and even though they will battle out for the first two positions, the revenue is expected to be significantly smaller than during the same period of last year. The conclusion reached by Mr. Carton is simple – it will be a real challenge to increase the market share in one of the worst spending environments recorded in years.