Online retailers ramp up deals

ONLINE RETAILERS are ramping up heavy-duty deals during the next few days.

However the strokers of beards, and people in the know say that online sales are expected to be flatter than a pancake stepped on by an elephant that only eats at KFC.

Among the deals out there is free shipping, no payment for 90 days deals, as well as the usual money off schemes and retailer's grandmother and children thrown in for free.

According to the online retailer Buy.com people were spending a lot less on gifts and products than last year.

Normal consumer spending has dropped dramatically as shoppers grapple with a shaky economy, mounting job losses and a prolonged housing slump. But online it is expected to be worse.

"Cyber Monday," the Monday after the US Thanksgiving holiday, is the unofficial start date for the busy online retail season.

During the holidays, spending is expected to total about $470.4 billion, a 2.2 percent rise from a year ago and the slowest growth since 2002, and online retail is being hit along with brick-and-mortar stores.

Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group said that the expected slowdown in online growth is "dramatically different than what we've seen". µ

L'Inq
AP