Pandemic

How the Pandemic Changed the 2021 Holiday Shopping Season | Economy

By Keisha P. Crabtree 1 week ago

There was a time when online shopping was an inexpensive and effective way to find obscure merchandise and avoid a trip to the store. Then the coronavirus struck and turned the web into a way for homebound consumers to purchase life’s necessities.

E-commerce became a lifeline rather than a luxury and never more so than during the 2021 holidays. But as online shopping became ubiquitous, some of its earlier benefits disappeared, chief among them lower prices.

An analysis of online shopping trends during the 2021 Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday spending season by Adobe Digital Insights released Wednesday found that inflation has caught up with the web, as prices rose 3.5% in November from a year earlier and 3.1% annually in December. That was driven by demand, as consumers spent $204.5 billion during the 2021 holiday season, up 8.6% year over year.

Cartoons on the Coronavirus

“Everyone was in front of

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Credit card spending rose six percent in 2021 as online shopping boomed in pandemic

By Keisha P. Crabtree 4 weeks ago

Data from Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, revealed spending on “essential” items rose 11.1 percent in 2021.

This was largely driven by supermarket shopping, which saw an overall growth of 17.4 percent, with online grocery spend surging 97.4 percent.

Shopping online proved popular throughout the year as online retail recorded strong growth of 63.2 percent compared to face-to-face retail spending, which saw a noticeably smaller rise of 0.6 percent, as shoppers continued to shop from digital devices at home and on the move.

The popularity of enjoying experiences at home, or “insperiences”, continued in 2021.

Spending on takeaways and fast food rose 62.0 percent in 2021, as consumers spent more on in-home experiences and nights in.

Jose Carvalho, head of consumer products at Barclaycard, said: “2021 was another challenging year, as the pandemic continued to hamper the UK economy.

“However, categories such

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More Brits prefer online shopping since pandemic

By Keisha P. Crabtree 4 months ago

FILE PHOTO: A man looks at his phone next to a shut down store, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain October 13, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

LONDON (Reuters) – About 70% of Britons say buying online and on mobile phones have become their preferred shopping methods, up from less than half prior to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study by personal finance startup Credit Karma.

The study, which has not been previously reported, surveyed 1,034 adults in the UK in July to gauge how digital spending and banking habits have changed since COVID-19 restrictions began.

More than half of respondents said their online shopping had increased since the pandemic’s start, and of those, more than a third said their finances had taken a hit as a consequence.

“Healthy consumer spending, online or otherwise, is generally a sign of a healthy economy, which can be great

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Revlon CEO discusses pandemic beauty habits, staying nimble

By Keisha P. Crabtree 5 months ago

NEW YORK (AP) — When Debra Perelman took over as Revlon’s first woman CEO in its 89-year history in 2018, the global beauty company was already facing big challenges.



a woman wearing a white shirt


© Provided by The Canadian Press


The publicly traded company, which is backed by her billionaire father Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Inc., and which also owns iconic brands like Almay and Elizabeth Arden, had been struggling for years. That includes a heavy debt load, changing consumer tastes and intense competition, most recently from celebrity launches like Kylie Jenner-backed Kylie.

Revlon’s problems only intensified with the pandemic, which hurt sales of lipsticks as people masked up. Sales fell 21% to $1.9 billion in 2020. The company avoided bankruptcy late last year by persuading enough bondholders to extend its maturing debt.

It’s a big change from when Revlon in its heyday throughout much of the 20th century was the second largest cosmetics

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