Despite all the gloom for retailers this holiday season, more shoppers will open their wallets on Black Friday than last year, according to a Consumer Reports poll.
The poll showed that 26 percent of consumers plan to shop on the day after Thanksgiving, up from 21 percent in 2007. It also said the percentage who had started their holiday shopping by late October or early November is down to 38 percent, compared with 43 percent two years ago.
The percentage of consumers who plan to shop online this year held steady from last year at 44 percent. Of those online shoppers, 20 percent plan to do more of their buying over the Internet than last year, while 8 percent plan to do less.
