| Burlington Free Press - Tom Brown: Recession takes a holiday |
|
Black Friday has come and gone, but welcome to Cyber Monday. Today is often referred to as the busiest day of the year for online shoppers. Figures don't necessarily bear that out, but like Black Friday is to bricks-and-mortar stores it certainly is an important holiday kickoff day for online retailers. According to the online shopping tracker Permuto and reported by The Christian Science Monitor, sales on Cyber Monday last year hit $846 million. The peak day, they said, was actually Dec. 9 with $887 million in e-commerce. Regardless, we all know that the Christmas season can make or break the entire year for retailers from Main Street to mainframe. Economists have been guarded in assessing the prospects for this shopping season. The Conference Board, a nonprofit watcher of management and economic trends, predicts Americans will spend an average of $390 per household on holiday gifts this year. That's $28 less than last year's estimate. I thought everyone was more secure about their financial situation this year as compared to last? Anyway, it seems that we New Englanders, where Christmas was no doubt invented, are much less frugal than our reputations imply when it comes to buying gifts. According to The Conference Board, we spend an average of $534 per household, by far the highest of any region of the U.S. Finishing second is the West North Central (which included Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Those Midwestern types spend about $470 per household. Only 26 percent of Americans plan to spend more than $500 on gifts, down 1 percent from last year. The relative cheapskates are from the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming). Clearly we are a generous lot, but I suspect the reasons have a lot more to do with the difference in income and cost of living in the various regions than any inherent Grinch-ness in the Rocky Mountain air. Simply put, things cost more here. Among the other findings of The Conference Board survey, most of our online shopping budget goes to books and clothing. More than 40 percent of those surveyed said they would buy those items online this season. What are your plans this season? Will you spend more or less than last year? Will you buy more from local businesses? Big boxes? Internet? Plan to use more cash and less credit? Let us know. Tom Brown is editor of Business Monday. He can be reached by e-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or by calling 660-186 By Tom Brown Published on Nov 30, 2009 Black Friday has come and gone, but welcome to Cyber Monday. Today is often referred to as the busiest day of the year for online shoppers. Figures don't necessarily bear that out, but like Black Friday is to bricks-and-mortar stores it certainly is an important holiday kickoff day for online retailers.
According to the online shopping tracker Permuto and reported by The Christian Science Monitor, sales on Cyber Monday last year hit $846 million. The peak day, they said, was actually Dec. 9 with $887 million in e-commerce. Regardless, we all know that the Christmas season can make or break the entire year for retailers from Main Street to mainframe. Economists have been guarded in assessing the prospects for this shopping season. The Conference Board, a nonprofit watcher of management and economic trends, predicts Americans will spend an average of $390 per household on holiday gifts this year. That's $28 less than last year's estimate. I thought everyone was more secure about their financial situation this year as compared to last? Anyway, it seems that we New Englanders, where Christmas was no doubt invented, are much less frugal than our reputations imply when it comes to buying gifts. According to The Conference Board, we spend an average of $534 per household, by far the highest of any region of the U.S. Finishing second is the West North Central (which included Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Those Midwestern types spend about $470 per household. Only 26 percent of Americans plan to spend more than $500 on gifts, down 1 percent from last year. The relative cheapskates are from the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming). Clearly we are a generous lot, but I suspect the reasons have a lot more to do with the difference in income and cost of living in the various regions than any inherent Grinch-ness in the Rocky Mountain air. Simply put, things cost more here. Among the other findings of The Conference Board survey, most of our online shopping budget goes to books and clothing. More than 40 percent of those surveyed said they would buy those items online this season. What are your plans this season? Will you spend more or less than last year? Will you buy more from local businesses? Big boxes? Internet? Plan to use more cash and less credit? Let us know. |
