How are consumers spending their money this year and where? The following report shows that consumers are spending this year but not in the same ways as previous years. Online shopping is taking a bite out of local retail shopping.
Online spending remained strong in early December, a period that usually marks a lull in the U.S. holiday shopping frenzy, comScore said on Sunday.
For the week ending December 9, consumers spent $5.9 billion online, up 15 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to comScore, which tracks Internet activity.
E-commerce spending for the first 39 days of the 2011 holiday season reached $24.6 billion, also up 15 percent versus the corresponding days last year, comScore added.
Best Buy quarterly profit missed Wall Street estimates as bigger discounts during the holiday season squeezed margins at the world’s largest electronics chain, and its shares fell 9 percent in premarket trading on Tuesday.
To woo budget-conscious shoppers from mass merchants and online rivals, Best Buy offered deep discounts on items such as flat-screen TVs, promised to match any lower prices its brick-and-mortar rivals advertised during the peak of the holiday season, and even offered free shipping.
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