Will Consumers Be Shopping Online in a "Challenging" Retail Holiday Season?

Experts way in on this very precarious topic for all of us in the ecommerce and mobile commerce (mcommerce) industry for the holiday season.

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, which is owned by the great investor Warren Buffet, shares their valuable insights with us.  The article is an excellent overview of where we are and what to expect for online retail shopping during the Holiday shopping season. 

It is not as bleak as you might think, although it is not as optimisitic as I had hoped either.  We are definately in tough economic times but people are still shopping online more and more.

Here are some excerpts from the article and links to the whole article.  I suggesting reading it all; it's excellent and easy to digest.

Business Wire, October 1, 2008

Consumers Will Be Online in a Challenging Retail Holiday Season

"To understand consumers’ online research and spending plans this holiday season, Burst Media surveyed over 3,000 Internet users ages 18 and older in late August 2008 about their expected use of the Web for the upcoming holiday season.

With economic woes pervasive in news headlines, Burst fielded the survey again between September 21- 23, 2008 (n=1,247) to ascertain whether there had been a change in consumers’ planned holiday spending in the four weeks from the first survey. The number of consumers who plan to spend less this holiday season has increased since late August. While we cannot correlate this change with the economic climate, September data shows a significant shift from our earlier reading.

Among Important Demographic Segments – Moms, Men, and Higher Income Households – Spending Will..."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article.

-- Chip Arndt