Online Shopping For The Holiday

Consumers surveyed by Deloitte & Touche say they expect to spend 25% of their total holiday shopping budgets at Internet retailers. "This is a significant increase," says Ed Carey, Deloitte & Touche's cochairman of consumer business practice. "The number last year was less than 5%." The survey found that Internet security was still a concern for consumers, but their comfort level is growing. Of the 600 consumers that responded to the online survey, 20% said they were very concerned about giving their credit card number over the Internet, 50% said they were "somewhat" concerned, and 30% expressed no concern at all. "As people conduct more transactions over the Internet, security will become less of an issue," says Carey. "There will be cards introduced like the American Express Blue card, which provide new security mechanisms, but in the long term people will become less concerned with Internet security and use the credit cards they have in their wallets today to make purchases over the Internet."