What people say versus what people do!

BEFORE Black Friday Poll

Many Consumers Plan to Spend Less This Holiday Season

By ANN CARRNS | New York Times

With economic concerns weighing heavily, 42 percent of Americans --and 49 percent of parents -- say they plan to spend less this holiday season than last year, a recent survey found.


Princeton Survey Research Associates conducted the telephone survey of 1,005 adults in early November. The margin of sampling error is four percentage points.

The index fell to its second-lowest level of the year, as feelings of job security hit a new low. Just 13 percent of Americans feel more secure in their jobs now than they did one year ago, which helped drag down the overall index to 92.5 points, just above the 2011 low of 92.3 recorded in August. (A reading below 100 indicates decreasing levels of financial security compared with 12 months earlier.)

After Cyber Monday Facts

According to IBM Coremetrics, Cyber Monday sales were up 33% from last year, a huge increase even from previous years.

Cyber Monday was not the only day over the long Thanksgiving weekend which saw an increase in online sales. ComScore estimates online retailers sold approximately $1.3 billion dollars in merchandise on Thanksgiving and Black Friday combined, up 23% from last year.

Retail sales on Black Friday climbed 6.6% this year to an estimated $11.4 billion, according to ShopperTrak, which tracks foot traffic at malls and stores. Last year, sales climbed just 0.3% to $10.7 billion, which was a record one-day sales amount at the time, according to the company.