Debt Free News

Internet shopping a big hit this year for Holiday purchasing

December 21, 2006

We all love the Internet for many reasons. It is loaded with very useful information and up to date news. Many of our debt free article readers love to use the Internet to get the latest news about debt consolidation, debt free help and finance information. Well, we even love to shop on the Net too – especially during the Holidays. This year is turning out to be a banner year ort online shopping and online Holiday gift buying. The season is said to have started late, but with all the added perks like free delivery and more, consumers are logging on for their shopping needs this year for sure.

It is being reported widely that Internet shopping got a huge shot in the arm as many more holiday last minute undecided shoppers turned to their computers to wrap up their holiday gift purchases. This news is being reported by a research company known as ComScore Networks.
In the report, it shows that in the first forty eight days of the Holiday shopping season, the sum of online retail purchases was about $20.65 billion. This statistic raised the income from online shopping by an impressive 25% from this time in 2005. This report excludes any consumer purchasing of Holiday travel and any other travel related expenditures.

A week ago last Monday (the 11^th) Internet shoppers laid out a record breaking $661 million in one day. This is very impressive. Just two days later on the 13^th, that record was topped yet again as online shoppers spilled another $667 million into online spending. While we are certain that not every purchase was for a Holiday gift, this still marks a record breaking online shopping season.
Because of these fascinating results from the report, ComScore even changed its original forecast for Holiday revenues online. In total, the company has adjusted its forecast to show a new number -  $24.6 billion in online spending. Again – another twenty five percent increase over 2005.

In the beginning, when many consumers were even saying they did not expect to do much of their Holiday shopping online, several consumer reporting agencies said they expected a much lower amount of revenue generated on the Net for Holiday shopping. Well, late in the season shoppers are changing their minds .

While the same company that reported these figures initially said it expected a 24% increase over last year – that 1% difference is a huge amount of money when you are talking billions.

One thing that stands out to us here at DebtFree24.com is that we see all these Internet shopping sites promising late deals and prompt delivery. They guarantee on-time delivery – whereas many of us are turned off by the long lines at our local post office. Who wants to hit the busy malls and other retail outlets only to find huge combative crowds  and them wait in a huge line at the post office anyway?

What ever the online stores did to attract last minute shoppers – it is working. Those shipping guarantees are the trick we think. This only means that last minute shoppers truly have faith that these online shopping depots and retailers can get the package where they need to be on time for the Holidays? Are we losing interest in those lines at the malls and post offices? Yes.

Just remember that it is easy to abandon all of your debt free lifestyle hard work during these pressured times to buy. Now that we can buy online and feel safe about it – we have one more way to get into debt problems all too easily.

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