Safe to use credit cards again?
You know the economy is recovering when more and more people are spending with their credit cards again. Last October, AMEX reported that spending on its cards increased to a healthy level for the first time in 2009. Figures have been on the decline for the past few months, but after suffering from a 10 percent decline in August and a 5 percent decline in September, the guys from AMEX are heaving a huge sigh of relief as consumers are now not as conservative in their card spending. Could this be because the holidays are approaching?

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, retail giants come out to play!
Our sources say that most of the consumers who shop with their credit cards are likely to purchase items online. BloggingStock.com hinted that Black Friday online sales were higher than that of its offline counterpart. Cyber Monday was even more successful, with online retail giants such as Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target have been hard at work to lure consumers back to their online stores. They did so by tempting them with heavily discounted Garmin GPS Systems, one of the most sought after gifts during Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas. Then, there’s a bevy of beautiful netbooks from Sony being offered with rebates, not forgetting the affordable iPod Touch offered by Amazon.com. With all these goodies available at rock bottom prices, what Web-savvy shopper could resist?

Coupon sites: A catalyst?
Some people even went as far to say that Cyber Monday would not be as successful this year without coupon sites. For those not in the know, coupon sites are websites that spread the news about the latest Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals and gave out coupon codes on top of these bargains. CyberMonday.com enjoyed a healthy traffic surge of 50% compared to last year’s statistics. This shows that more consumers are willing to seek convenient bargains online rather than shop conservatively at brick and mortar retail stores. Interestingly, according to Onlinebusiness.volusion.com, page views per session fell approximately 25% while product views dropped 19%. Does this mean that online consumers are shopping more based on their whims now? Time, and perhaps the Christmas shopping statistics will tell.

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