THE DAY that recorded the most business was Cyber Monday, November 28, for the second time in succession, at a massive $1.25 billion. This is positive news not only for the US economy but also for the world economy but will it pull the US economy out of recession? If in two months American consumers spend $37.2 billion in buying fast moving and non-fast moving goods, then it augers well for the US economy.

Buying behaviour of this kind is encouraging as it means that the American economy is getting re-energized and companies are utilizing unspent cash that they had held back from spending during the worst part of the recession in 2010-11. The amount of shopping that US consumers did from November 1 to December 31 has turned out to be unprecedented. 

The US economy is still the largest economy in the world. It's the single largest economic engine in the world. If US companies record healthy sales, it reverberates across the world as importers and exporters gain from increased economic activity, and domestic companies create jobs. According to comScore, a leading US company that measures online data, on Black Friday, November 25, non-travel retail spending from work and home locations amounted to $816 million - a 26 per cent rise in spending over the last year.

 

Similarly, on other important days in the festive season from November 1 to December 31- like Thanksgiving Day (November 24); Thanksgiving Weekend (November 26-27); Cyber Monday (November 28); Green Monday (December 12) and Free Shipping Day (December 16), record sales took place.

 

But there is a cautionary caveat to this amazing online shopping spree in the US in the holiday season. While it was Merry Christmas for many online retailers, we will not know how much these record sales translate into profits in the books - as aggressive pricing and free shopping offers will likely affect margins of the online retailers.