While opening my mail today, I found yet another envelope marked “urgent” claiming to contain “important information inside”. As you may have guessed, what I found was a credit card offer. I’m sure I’m not alone in continuing to receive these unsolicited offers, and I can’t help but wonder why this offer is so disconnected from consumer sentiment. Is the answer to rising indebtedness really more credit?

One of the strengths of great marketers is their acute awareness of the customer’s state of mind and state of affairs. What happened here? Is there a belief that the credit crunch is … Continue Reading

Macro conditions are beginning to affect day-to-day consumer spending. For years, American consumers took on growing debt loads disproportionate to their incomes and savings. Innovest’s October 2008 report, Credit Cards at a Tipping Point, describes the mortgage market collapse as only one symptom of a larger problem and that credit cards will be next. Falling house prices, higher cost of living and unemployment rates are now exacerbating the financial health of the consumer and will result in a spike in charge-offs in 2009, as well as mounting risk for banks … Continue Reading

The impact of the credit crunch is expected to affect holiday shopping as projected consumer spending online remains steady at $100 - $250 on average. Index results for the fourth quarter show that the credit crunch is causing shoppers to reduce their credit card usage and impacting consumer access to credit resulting in a shift to cash alternatives. 31 percent of respondents indicated that they would purchase more online if they could better control their finances and pay with cash; an opportunity for online merchants to optimize checkout with cash alternatives.

Retailers: Get an in-depth look at the complete Spending … Continue Reading

What a difference a few weeks make since we announced our 12 M financing round. No shortage of bad news in the economy, from financial institutions and worsening reports on the state of consumer confidence. By now, we all know that the market conditions are tough and the credit crunch is impacting consumers. Perhaps that despite all the noise in the market, there is one thing that is clear – Access to credit is going to be a lot tougher to get and that obviously will impact the bottom line.

To react to this new reality, given the … Continue Reading