Holiday Reveals Buying Trends

The holiday shopping period revealed a drop in the use of credit cards and just how far Internet purchasing has come, according to two surveys

A survey by Myvesta.org, a nonprofit consumer education organization, showed that the average amount of credit card debt carried by individuals just before the holiday had dropped an astounding 29.4 percent in the last year - from $3,250 in 2002 to $2,294. Individuals now carry an average of 2.3 credit cards in their wallets compared to 2.5 in 2002. Myvesta also found that the average American planned on spending about $835 during the holiday period.

A survey by American Express early in the shopping season showed that for the first time, more than half (54 percent) of Americans planned to shop over the Web. That's an increase from 46 percent last year and 42 percent the year before.

The American Express survey also found that Internet users buy more gifts than offline shoppers and planned to spend on average of $1,082 for gifts this year. Of that amount, they planned to spend about 26 percent online. About 10 percent more online buyers than offline buyers said they reward themselves for their purchasing efforts by buying something for themselves.

Copyright © 2004 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 13, No. 10, 1/04