Thanksgiving

As the Christmas passed and the stores are removing their decorations customers are about to put aside their wallets again. The sales boom recorded during Thanksgiving and Christmas season was not a sign of consumer spending resurrection, say analysts and shoppers themselves.

"At this point I refuse to put anything on credit. If I don't have the money, I don't buy it," said Jeff McErlain, a Brooklyn, New York, musician shopping at upscale department store Saks on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on Wednesday.

Online shoppers in America have spent a lot this season and are expected to spend further. according to the latest stats from comScore online shoppers in the United States so far have already spent more than $21.95 billion. That's a 12% increase over the same period last year.

According to the stats online retailers probably had the best Thanksgiving this weekend because those discounts reserved by Cyber Monday were widely offered through the weekend. Cyber Monday is the day when many people returning to work after Thanksgiving make gift purchases online.

"We've actually never seen a Thanksgiving Day this robust before online," said Fiona Dias, EVP of strategy and marketing for GSI Commerce, which operates more than 100 online stores for retailers including Toys R Us, Aeropostale Inc and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp.

 Lightspeed Research, an online marketing company, released a study that shows 64% of Americans think it's annoying or crazy that stores have Christmas decorations up before Halloween.

A new survey has revealed that 83.7 per cent of US online retailers expect to advertise a special promotion for Cyber Monday - the first Monday after Thanksgiving.

The popular Christmas shopping day will see 38.8 per cent of e-commerce sites offer a specific deal, while 32.7 per cent will engage in email marketing, 24.5 per cent will put on a one-day sale and 22.5 per cent will provide free shipping, according to the poll by Shopzilla for Shop.org.