Personal Spending Drives Consumer Buying Trends

More than half of adults are planning to spend more (14%) or the same (40%) in 2011 than they did last year, with the majority of that spending focused on themselves, according to results from the January 2011 American Express Spending & Saving Tracker. In terms of where consumers will spend in 2011, top categories include grooming (73%), health/fitness (70%) and clothing for themselves (61%). Categories at the bottom of the list include video game systems and games (34%), jewelry (34%), portable media players (32%), and tablet computers or e-book readers (30%).
(more…)