Xmas early this year for cyber criminals
In the coming weeks we will no doubt see the first volley of breathless predictions for the Christmas 2007 online shopping season. Even with fears of a recession bubbling up in the United States, a run on bank deposits in the UK, and anxious Europeans looking on, the e-commerce market this holiday season has only one place to go: up.
At some point, the year-on-year growth will cease. But not now. It’s still too early. High street retailers ought to be fretting. Their online rivals are much more recession-proof, simply because e-tailers’ customer base is much more affluent, and therefore less vulnerable to the sub-prime fallout or overdraft penalties. If overall retail sales are down this year, it won’t be the e-tailers suffering.