Holiday Credit Card Shopping
December 4, 2007
Total sales for holiday shopping on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, increased a little over 8 percent to a dollar amount of $10.3 billion, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp. who monitored some 50,000 retailers.
Online retailers also did well and it is estimated that they may have broken all one-day records for sales and traffic on what is called Cyber Monday. Purchases for online retailers hit more than $700 million.
Much of this shopping was done with credit cards and it is when these bills start coming due that many consumers may feel a big hit to their pocketbook.
Mike Schenk, senior economist with the Credit Union National Association says, “We think this holiday shopping period will be a last hurrah for a while.”
It is generally accepted that consumer spending will account for as much as 2/3 of the US economic activity throughout any given year. This seems to be holding steady for this year even though the price of oil has many investors and consumers concerned. It is when consumers begin to cut back on purchases that worries of a recession begin to hit home.
Some experts believe that the increase in credit card spending may end up hurting the overall economy because it cuts into the cash sales that drive many businesses as well as adds to the debt burden of the user