From BusinessWeek
What began as a strong shopping season for online retailers may fizzle as cash-strapped consumers quickly exhaust tight holiday budgets.
Lured by steep discounts, consumers showed a propensity to spend as yearend shopping got under way after Thanksgiving. By late afternoon on Nov. 30, the day's online sales were up 11% from a year earlier, according to online marketing firm Coremetrics. That matched the percentage increase registered on Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving, when Web sales climbed 11%, to $595 million, according to researcher comScore.
With unemployment high and expected to keep rising, households are setting aside less money for yearend holiday shopping. That means the late-November shopping surge may not last, retailing experts say. "People could be spending a lot of their budget up front," says Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst at online marketing research firm eMarketer. "Things are going to slow down as people have less money to spend, and they are going to exhaust their money earlier."
Full article:
Online Retailers: An Early Holiday Peak? - BusinessWeek
