Survey finds consumers plan to increase travel spending in recovery

eBillme study asks consumers about anticipated spending post-recession

RYE BROOK, NY - May 19, 2010 - 52 percent of consumers say that as the economy starts to improve, they plan to increase their spending on travel. This is the top response in a consumer study released today by eBillme, and conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research.

The study polled 1,200 consumers to measure the top things they plan to increase spending on as the economy begins to improve and consumer confidence increases.

Following travel, the top items consumers plan to put more money towards as the economy shows signs of improvement include: dining out (51 percent), clothing and accessories (41 percent), electronics (34 percent), and concert/movie tickets (29 percent).

“After months and months of consumers cutting back, there has been recent evidence that spending might be on the upswing,” says Samer Forzley, Vice President of Marketing at eBillme. “According to the eBillme Online Spending Index for Q2, consumers will increase online shopping by seven percent over last quarter. Shoppers are still being cautious because there remains uncertainty about the economy, but it is clear from our study that once confidence improves, they know exactly where they want to spend again. Good news for retailers that sell in categories like apparel, electronics, and appliances that are showing strong signs for future sales growth.”

The survey also looked at trends in consumer spending based on gender. Overall men responded more conservatively with 21 percent not planning to increase spending even once the economy improves, as compared to 16 percent of women. Other findings include:

* 52 percent of women plan to increase spending on apparel as compared to 30 percent of men.
* 24 percent of both women and men want to spend more on new music or movies.
* Men are almost twice as likely as women to spend more on electronics.
* Women are more likely to spend more on massages (24 percent) and beauty and hair care products (26 percent).
* Both men and women ranked gym memberships as the thing they will increase spending on the least.

Additional data can be found by viewing the full Online Spending Index.

About the Survey

The findings are based on data collected from an online consumer survey deployed quarterly starting in August 2008, with a sample size of 1,200 respondents. The survey targeted U.S. adults (age 18 +), and was based on representative proportions of gender, ethnicity, and income as compared to the overall U.S. online population. Overall margin of sampling error is ±2.8 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Source: eBillme