11/30/09 Stockholm, Sweden – In a stunning change of consumer behavior, America’s Research Group found that shoppers stuck to cash on Black Friday. Only 26 percent of shoppers chose to use credit cards, while 35 and 39 percent used debit cards and cash, respectively.
According to Reuters, “Consumers shunning credit cards is a bad sign for retailers, since people who buy gifts with a credit card tend to spend anywhere from 20 to 40 percent more on the gift…
“Data from the survey of 680 people was in line with results from the National Retail Federation which showed more traffic in stores and on websites over the Thanksgiving weekend, but less spending per person.”
Americans seem be taking debt burdens more seriously in this troubled economy and are showing it by reining in debt-fueled consumption. More details are available from Reuters in its coverage of how cash was king for holiday shoppers.
Rocky Vega
Rocky Vega is publisher of The Daily Reckoning. Previously, he was founding publisher of UrbanTurf and RFID Update, which he operated from Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico, and associate publisher of FierceFinance. He specialized in direct marketing at MBI, facilitated MIT Sloan School of Management programs, and has been featured on CBS. Vega graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he was on the board of Let’s Go Publications and directed business programs involving McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and Harvard Business School faculty. He is also enrolled at the Stockholm School of Economics.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
Start your 100% FREE subscription to The Daily Reckoning today and you’ll get a free research report, “How to Survive the Fall of Social Security.” Simply enter your email address below to get your free report and join over 495,000 worldwide Daily Reckoning subscribers!
We Respect Your Privacy and We will
Never Share or Sell Your Email Address
Dave Ramsey would be proud