More gloom for the Christmas Season

While I enjoy being contrarian, and looking for the story behind the story in business news, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, as they say.

There just isn't a whole lot of opinion in the CE trade press right now that is confident that this Christmas will be merry and bright. Here's another downer, this one blaming the price of oil:

The Retail Bridge: Get Ready For A Slim Holiday Spending Season

According to a report released last week by International Communications Research, 30 percent of U.S. adults plan to cut back on their holiday spending this year as a result of higher gas prices and overall economic concerns.
Rising gasoline prices will have the greatest impact on lower income and rural buyers, the study said, with 44 percent of households with incomes below $25,000 per year saying that driving costs will have a "substantial impact" on their holiday shopping, and 38 percent of rural consumers agreeing. Overall, 69 percent of respondents said that gas prices will impact their spending this year.

I like tales of woe as much as anyone, but the report goes off the rails when it declares that respondents plan to to most of their shopping in bricks and mortar stores, as opposed to online, something the Bridge's editor takes exception to also.

Less than 10 percent of respondents said they plan to do most of their holiday shopping via the Internet and catalogs, while 58 percent said they plan to focus on actual stores.

I find that difficult to believe. Bear in mind though, that with 1001 respondents, the margin for error is about +/- 276%, so you can take that with a grain of salt.

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