As U.S. retailers gear up for the final lap of the holiday shopping season, rising energy costs could turn into the Grinch that stole Christmas sales, according to results of a new consumer survey.
More than half of the 10,000 households polled in a joint survey by the Conference Board and market research group TNS said they will make fewer trips to the mall, while more than one out of every three plan to cut back their spending to combat costs, according to the report released Wednesday.
Moreover, about 30 percent of those surveyed said the because of higher fuel prices they will do more of their gift-buying online instead of in stores.
Energy cost woes also appear to be climbing up the income ladder, affecting affluent as well as low-to mid-income consumers, the report said.
I’ve been online since 1983. It’s hard to say something new about shopping online. I wonder if some of the more obnoxious retailers will disappear from malls? Like cell phone kiosks featuring ring tones?
Stare at the lead photo for a few seconds. There are some really, really crazy people out there. Here is a guy sitting in a shopping cart, with a tank of propane strapped to the front, an some kind of thruster built in the back that is soooo hot that most of it is glowing at near melting point. All between this guy and fiery death is a sweater and a helmet.
As a political remark, I guess that he expects his insurance company (or the government) to pay for any treatment after an accident. We need a nationsl health insurance system that will cover everybody for involuntary health problems, but exclude drunk driving, crazy stunts like this, even dangerous sports, smoking damage, etc. If you want to do this kind of thing… fine, but don’t expect us to pay for it… in any way shape or form.
These seems…stupid.
If gas prices trippled, it would still only cost me $6 to drive to the mall…maybe…I doubt it.
This is going to stop people from buying plasma TVs, and laptops, and iPods? That’s just stupid.
I’m not saying that people’s perspective on the price of gas isn’t totally out of wack, because it is, but this reminds me more of my local Sinclair news that always finds some way to mention the price of gas every single day like it was victory gin or something.
If this actually does mean less trips to the mall for Americans, then good. They should take less trips to the mall.
Your not kidding that guys crazy. Can you imagine what would happen if he crashed and he came into contact with that engine? Instant seared meat, probably to the bone. Why even make the effort of wearing safety gear? You crash wrong and your dead.
Some people are just morons.
..but I bet it was quite the rush.
Yeah, I’ve been online since about 1983, also. I didn’t shop much there, mostly I read opinions about which programming language totally ruled, or however we said things back then. I guess internet shopping is way up this year. As for the jet powered car, it’s sort of a niche thing. I saw the episode of Junkyard Wars where they had one of those engines on a boat, and it won. I always thought that show was fixed, so I never bet on it.
Here’s what I’ve been wondering about shopping online: What exactly IS the actual efficiency or economic advantage of brick & mortar, and can it be completely overcome? Basically it comes down to “shipping costs” right now, but things have to be shipped to get to a storefront, too, so where’s the advantage? Is it the cost of having a truck come all the way to your door? (Maybe people could get a discount on shipping by picking up their orders at a centralized location?) The economics are going to change once shipping centers are more roboticized. One way or another I think that we’ll see online shopping continue to gain ground over the next decades. Until, of course, it’s undercut by home manufacturing.
None of those 10000 were home today