After those pesky laws discouraging drinking and driving became commonplace in most jurisdictions, retailers probably suffered heavily from the loss of the “half cut” demographic spending in their stores like… drunken sailors?

Alas, the rise of web shopping has once again opened the demographic of inebriated consumers to retailers once again, and the staid New York Times has profiled the happy, tipsy shoppers that often are surprised when their bounty of internet-gotten purchases arrives, having forgotten their acquisitions in the haze of a drunken hour.

Ohio woman Tiffany Whitten explains the enticement of racking up credit card points drunkenly on her smartphone. She says:

“I have my account linked to my phone, so it’s really easy… I was drunk and I bought [a phone cover], and I forgot about it, and it showed up in the mail, and I was really excited.”

Australian accountant Chris Tansey is one such boozy buyer, and he tells the Times of the time he once dropped ten large on a motorcycle tour while three sheets to the wind. Tansey says:

“The hang-ups of spending your hard-earned cash are so far removed from your life when you’ve had a bottle of wine,” Mr. Tansey said in an e-mail. The New Zealand trip was terrific, he said. But a pair of $3 sunglasses on eBay “turned out to be horrible fakes, with $17 of postage that I obviously didn’t see with beer goggles.”

Gilt Groupe president Andy Page urged responsible drunk shopping, but said retailers appreciate the lack of inhibition associated with drunk shopping:

“Post-bar, inhibitions can be impacted, and that can cause shopping, and hopefully healthy impulse buying.”

QVC, the home shopping channel on which trashed shoppers can go buckwild without even having to log on to the internet, also feels the drunk shopping love. SVP of multichannel programming and marketing at the channel, Doug Page, tells the Gray Lady that there is a significant uptick in sales of cosmetics and other women’s luxuries after arsenic hour:

“Call them girl treats — they seem to attract a really strong following once you get past dinnertime… You can probably come to your own conclusion as to what’s motivating her.”

Have you ever put the smackdown on your plastic after a few cocktails? Do you enjoy drunk shopping?

[Image: Shutterstock]

‘Drunk Shopping’ a Boon to Online Merchants is a post from: The Inquisitr

Consumer confidence soared in the United States during the month of December according to a report from the Conference Boards’ Consumer Confidence Index.

According to the report confidence shot up by 10 points in December to close at 64.5, the highest reading for the scale since April. That number is also significant as it appears to be reaching ever closer to post-recession high of 72 witnessed last in February.

The metric also revealed that consumers were more upbeat in their economic views, a score that increased from 38.3 to 46.7. When asked about their own prospects over the next six months consumers once again felt significantly more positive in December with an increase from 66.4 to 76.4.

While the increasing numbers are a good sign for American and international businesses they are still far below the 90 average often seen when the economy is strong and most people have jobs.

According to the Director of the Confrence Board:

“While consumers are ending the year in a somewhat more upbeat mood, it is too soon to tell if this is a rebound from earlier declines or a sustainable shift in attitudes.”

Have you felt more upbeat about the prospects for the United States economy lately? Base off my own unscientific examination of mall parking lots during the holiday shopping season I would say more people are willing to spend this year then they have in the last few.

[Image via littleny / Shutterstock.com]

Consumer Confidence Soars As Shoppers Flock To Retail And Online Shops is a post from: The Inquisitr

Web monitoring firm comScore has marked a recent 15 percent weekly increase in online holiday sales in what could possibly be the busiest week of the year.

According to the research company shoppers have spent $30.9 billion online from Nov. 1 through Dec. 16, that number compares to just $26.9 billion during the same period of 2010.

The tracking company also found that during four days last week buyers purchased more than $1 billion worth of goods for a total of $6.31 billion, 15% better than last years best week total.

According to comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni that five day period:

“Will almost certainly be the heaviest week of the online holiday shopping season.”

The company notes that this years Cyber Monday is still the largest online shopping day ever recorded with a 22 percent increase to $1.25 billion (pictured above), a number that just barely surpassed $1 billion last year.

With holiday shopping expected to make up 40 percent of annual revenues for 2011 the growing trend towards online purchases is good news for online retailers and bad news for the more expensive to operate brick and mortar locations.

An interesting point of interest was also discovered through the company’s research, according to comScore more than half of all purchases made online for the current holiday shopping period were sent to customers using free shipping offers.

Do you believe online shopping sales figures will continue to see a large increase in the years to come thanks to the mobility of users who now take advantage of tablets, smartphones and other portable devices on a more regular basis?

Holiday Shopping Increases 15% Online, Shoppers Spend Billions is a post from: The Inquisitr

An overwhelming majority (70%) of consumers either don’t shop online or do so with concerns about their safety while navigating the Internet. This was the result of a recent survey of IT security expert Avira where only 30 percent of 2,945 respondents felt secure enough to be worry free as they shop online.

Sorin Mustaca, data security expert from Avira, justified the respondents’ safety concerns:

“Because of the continued data breaches, phishing attacks, and security vulnerabilities, that get reported on almost every day, consumers have every right to not feel 100 percent safe while they shop online.”

She proceeded with recommendations on how not to become a victim of online fraudsters:

Always check the connection to the online store to ensure that the payment is done in secured environment. This may be simple but try to observe if the URL starts with “https” and if a small lock is present at the top right corner of the browser. If the browser gives any warnings about the security certificate of the website, then do not proceed.

Always check for a website’s reputation. Search for other users who are commenting about the website. It usually tells you the reputation of the site.

Try to choose payment methods which don’t require payment upfront. If PayPal is an option, choose that whenever possible. Use your credit card only if you’ve ensured the safety and reputation of the website.

Always double check your bank accounts to make sure the amount you spent is the amount that was charged.

These tips are so elementary but easily ignored by people. Do you feel safe shopping online?

Majority of Consumers Still Have Concerns on Online Shopping Safety is a post from: The Inquisitr

Is it a recovering economy or increased trust in internet based transactions that have caused a sharp increase in consumers chasing online deals on Cyber Monday this year?

A bit of both, says National Retail Federation president Matthew Shea to the Los Angeles Times, quite wordily:

“While Black Friday weekend is not always an indicator of holiday season performance, retailers should be encouraged that a focus on value and discretionary gifts has shoppers in the spirit to spend,” he said. “As retailers look ahead to the first few weeks of December, it will be important for them to keep momentum going with savings and incentives.”

Per the trade group, Black Friday foot traffic was up from 195 million crazed shoppers in 2009 to an estimated 212 million this year, so it’s not all the convenience of shopping in your boxer shorts. Average dollars spent jumped just over 6%, from about $343 per shopper last year to $365 on average this year.

A consultant for a management firm speaking to the paper said that examining the practices of web shoppers is an important component in measuring the impact of Cyber Monday on overall 2010 holiday season sales:

“The other thing that is important to watch is the shift to online,” [Laura] Gurski said. “Not only are consumers going out there for convenience to make their purchases in a greater number, but they’re also buying more items at a time. In years past, perhaps they’d buy five items in a transaction, now they’re buying seven.”

Did you participate in one or both shopping days? Which one yielded better deals?

US retail group says Cyber Monday sales up 10% this year is a post from: The Inquisitr

While ATMs are open 24/7, sometimes money isn’t necessarily the best gift. (Nothing kills a gift-buzz more than knowing it will go to pay part of a utility or vet-bill, for instance.)

If you keep odd hours, dislike the mall and/or are in the habit of leaving gift-giving to the absolute last second, Friendgiftr might just be your new favorite invention. (It’s not entirely new- the site says Friendgiftr was founded in 2008.) Gift cards are nice to receive, but Friendgiftr even manages to circumvent some of the most common pitfalls associated with giving giftcards.

Firstly, the recipient can switch retailers, so if you give a Chili’s gift card to someone who is a quiet chain restaurant hater, they can opt to switch the credit to something of more use to them. If you purchase a Gap or Banana Republic gift card for a friend whose wardrobe is all stocked up, they can change the credit to be for Starbucks or Red Robin. Also, the cards can be used both online and off, so the giftee isn’t tied to using the card in person or losing the value, a common gift card scenario. There are options to dispense the gift card through Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Ning or plain old email.

If you select the “all merchants” tab, you can view the entire list of Friendgiftr merchants here.

[via Mashable, image]

Friendgiftr saves your ass when you forget a birthday is a post from: The Inquisitr

Every year, I end up renewing my Amazon Prime membership when I realize that it’s cheaper than shipping all of Santa’s presents in a timely fashion without it.

Until today, the biggest drawback (besides the $80 price tag) was that the service was really only “prime” for half the week. Needing items sooner rather than later from Thursday through Monday kind of felt like a jack. Sunday was understandable, but the omission of Saturday delivery made the service far less convenient. Now Amazon has revamped the shipping options it offers, including Saturdays on the Amazon Prime shipping options and introducing an innovative new same-day shipping options in some major cities. This is a huge value add for Prime members, and I can imagine this Christmas I’ll be marginally less reluctant to pay the fee.

NYC, Philly, Boston, DC, Vegas, Baltimore and Seattle have the option, which costs $5.99 per item for Amazon Prime members. It’s not immediately clear what costs will be for those without Prime membership. Delivery cutoff times range between 10am-11am, but waking up before noon beats the hell out of leaving the house.

Here’s the relevant portion of Amazon’s press release:

Oct. 15, 2009– Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced the launch of “Local Express Delivery,” a new shipping option giving customers same-day delivery in seven major cities including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Seattle andWashington D.C. The service will be extended to Chicago, Indianapolis and Phoenix in the coming months.

Thousands of items are now available for Local Express Delivery. Amazon Prime* members pay just$5.99 per item for the service. Full details, including the rate card for all other customers, are available at www.amazon.com/help/shipping.

Items ordered before the following local cut-off times will be delivered the same day:

• New York City – Order as late as 10 a.m.
• Philadelphia – Order as late as 10 a.m.
• Boston – Order as late as 10:30 a.m.
• Washington D.C. – Order as late as 10:30 a.m.
• Baltimore – Order as late as 10:30 a.m.
• Las Vegas – Order as late as 11 a.m.
• Seattle – Order as late as 1 p.m.

Customers will find delivery cut-off times on each product’s detail page.

“We want to make online shopping as convenient as possible,” said Girish Lakshman, vice president of Transportation at Amazon. “We’re continuously working to speed up delivery times and customers receiving items on the same day as ordered is an exciting step. Now, if a customer needs a last-minute present for a birthday or wants a copy of their book club book before the weekend starts, they can order from Amazon instead of the hassle of a last-minute trip to the mall.”

Amazon has also expanded Saturday Delivery options. Now, items ordered before the cut-off time on Thursday using Two-Day Shipping will be delivered on Saturday instead of Monday. For Prime members, Thursday-to-Saturday delivery is free using Two-Day Shipping. For all other customers, the service is offered at the current Two-Day Shipping rates. Saturday Delivery is also available for orders placed before the cut-off on Fridays for $6.99 per item for Prime members and an additional charge for all other customers. Full details can be found at www.amazon.com/help/shipping.

Amazon introduces same-day delivery in some cities, adds shipping options is a post from: The Inquisitr

Saturday, Amazon took on a small segment of the third-party market with a new line of electronics called “Amazon Basics.”

Gadget fans don’t need to get all a-twitter yet- the line is mostly cables, blank CDs and blank DVDs, but they’re offered at a cost lower than most competition on Amazon. Some of the items, like USB cables, are “available for pre-order,” which I found perplexing. I thought a cable was something you ordered in frustration when you stepped on the end of it with your motorcycle boots rendering it unusable, not something you acquired in the vague notion of receiving it someday.

Looked at as a harbinger of things to come, though, the line certainly has promise. Amazon has indicated they don’t plan to branch off into the more exciting stuff- this appears to be more of a True Value Hardware for your computer and other electronics. Even though the pricing isn’t always necessarily the lowest- this 100 pack of blank CDs scoops the new Amazon ones by 49 cents and is Prime Eligible- Amazon’s status as a trusted brand for online shopping means buyers may flock to the new offerings. As someone who ends up renewing my Prime membership grudgingly every Christmas to avoid the high shipping costs and the toy store crush, I’ll certainly look there before I go to a seller with whom I have no experience.

[Amazon Basics]

Watch out Amazon Marketplace, Amazon Basics launches is a post from: The Inquisitr

The end of the month is coming and I’ll have a little bit of money sitting in my PayPal account but it leaves  me in a little bit of a quandary. Like, do I transfer some; or all of it, to my bank account so I can get that Christmas shopping down. If I leave some of it in my PayPal account then I am stuck dealing with the sometimes depressing online shopping experience.

It’s not always depressing; as buying digital goods is fairly simple and painless – at least it isn’t affected by one or more of my following suckage reasons. No – the real pain and agony comes when you head out to shop for non-digital type goodies. You know – those things like hardware, household stuff for the wife or those gaming consoles for the kids. The type of things that need to be paid for and then shipped.

In the spirit of online shopping and the holiday spirit here’s a list of the reasons why I think the whole experience really sucks sometimes.

1. Payment methods

This has to be the biggest bitch point I have with online shopping; but before you get your panties in a bunch let’s make a couple of things clear. Not everyone wants to buy digital goods. Not everyone in the world has a credit card. Not everyone in the world has a VISA debit card. Not everyone lives in the United States. So don’t even bother trying to get me going by bringing those points up in a comment.

There is nothing worse than finding just the right item that you want to buy only to find out that they only accept three major credit cards. What makes it even more maddening though is that you don’t find out until page 5 of their stupid ass payment form. Gee couldn’t you let me know that before you made me enter in all my personal information – guess not.

Then we have the famous VISA style bank debit cards or the virtual credit cards. Whoop-frikken-ee! First with the bank VISA debit cards – chances are if you don’t qualify for a VISA card you won’t for a VISA debit card. You might have a bank debit card but that won’t work. Then there is the fact that even if they accept a straight ordinary bank debit card it had better be one from the U.S. because I have yet to see anyone that accepts a Canadian bank debit card.

Then we have PayPal – but that is another whole separate point.

2. The Big Boys and wanting to pay with PayPal

The short of it is if you want to buy stuff from places like Amazon, the new Microsoft store (for that Xbox deal) or any of the really non-eBay retailers you are screwed unless you have a major credit card. Forget even thinking about paying with PayPal. It ain’t gonna happen.

That is one of the reasons that Amazon will never be an endpoint of online shopping for a lot of people. The other big reason comes later. I can understand to a point why considering that PayPal is owned by eBay that online retailers don’t accept it as a payment option; but it wasn’t always like that. Even before eBay PayPal has never been an option at Amazon and I’m sorry but that is just down right stupid. I can’t count the number of times that I have wanted to buy a book or other goods at Amazon but couldn’t because of this nonsense.

To me this is being exceptionally shortsighted and stupid

3. Geotarding what I can buy

Nothing pisses me off more than finding just the right item and entering all my payment information only to see – No shipping to outside of the U.S.

Screw you. I’m already going to get raped by any shipping costs as it is. If I’m willing to bend over a little further and pay outrageous shipping costs then damn well be willing to take my money and buy those goods.

I see this on Amazon all the time at any point you step beyond the bounds of book buying. If you want to buy that nice little trinket for the wife or maybe a a nice DVD player on sale – forget it if you live anywhere else but in the great United States.

In the Amazon example you can always head to your local geographical version (if there is one) but if that local Amazon site is anything like the Canadian one the pickings are pretty dismal. Where most people seem to make Amazon and other big names a regular stopping point I’m lucky if I remember Amazon even exists outside of any news that shows up about it.

4. Shipping outside of the U.S. – or how FedEx and UPS laugh all the way to the bank

I know everyone touts Amazon’s free shipping horn but here’s a hint. Not everyone buys from Amazon and not everyone lives in the U.S.

The moment there is a border to cross I can just visualize some FedEx or UPS executive eyeing up that new BMW or Mercedes purchase. In-country charges are bad enough but if I get something from the US I pray to all that is holy that it is getting shipped with GIFT splashed across the package. If it doesn’t then I suddenly am having to pay Custom Tariff Fees and then our lovely government gets in the act wanting their share and I have to pay taxes on what they think the item is worth. Suddenly that good deal just cost me an arm and a leg.

Even worse though in some ways is in-country shipping – especially when you are in the same time zone, the same province as where you are buying the goods from. Recently I bought a new mouse from TigerDirect in Canada – great service and I’m very happy with them – but when it came to figuring out how much I had to pay via PayPal I was suddenly faced with a $10.00 shipping fee. For a mouse .. a package that probably didn’t even weight a pound.

Then another time I priced out some RAM memory and again it was a great deal – except for the shipping. Again I was faced with a $10.00 shipping fee for something that fits inside an envelope. Please tell me how this makes sense.

That I think pretty well covers some of the ways that I think online shopping sucks. The things is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Retailers could stop being so myopic about how we can pay for those goods. Retailers like Amazon could easily support us paying by PayPal. In this day and age of the global village and global economy mentality we shouldn’t have to deal with geotarded products. As well we shouldn’t shafted the way we are for the shipping of goods that we buy; after all the more we buy the more that will need to be shipped (DUH!)

Do I think any of the above will change?

Not bloody likely.

4 Reasons why online shopping sucks is a post from: The Inquisitr

Although US consumers are pessimistic about the economy, they remain interested with the web as venue for them to save money. Forty-eight percent of consumers surveyed, compared with 41 percent in 2007, said that they can find the best values and deals online. Additionally, 36 percent of consumers said that they would be more likely to shop online due to high gas prices, compared with 22 percent who expressed the same sentiment last year.

Forrester expects that the majority of holiday online sales will be driven by shoppers who have previously purchased online, rather than first time online buyers.

More than two-thirds of consumers surveyed said that they are planning to spend more or about the same online as they did last year. Core holiday product categories such as clothing will remain top choices for online buyers, as well as books, DVDs/videos, music, gift certificates, and toys.

Respondents also indicated that they will be seeking free shipping offers more often this year than last.

The economy will slow US online holiday sales, really? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Taobao has created an e-commerce ecosystem consisting of 80 million users, over 1 million sellers, and 200 million items for Chinese consumers to select from. The new funding, spread over five years, will be used to build a more advanced platform for merchants, while continuing to offer its services for free to buyers and individual sellers.

Chinese companies are expected to take advantage of the economic downturn in building up, aside from carefully investing. Reports had it that some companies are even launching plans for recruitment. The Alibaba Group even announced that it is hiring about 4,000 new employees this year.

Alibaba invests $732 million in Taobao is a post from: The Inquisitr