Through the tough economic times online retail was always the one bright spot. Consumers seemed to me more willing to spend online for various, speculative reasons. But after continued growth it looks like the projections for the rest of 2009 are more in line with the rest of the economy...sort of.

While online shopping was growing, growing, growing many are predicting it will flatten out for the rest of 2009 and into 2010. Although it is not shrinking, flat ecommerce spending is still scary because, unlike brick and mortar stores, ecommerce has not yet matured as a market.

Stores are online basically because consumers demand it and it opens them up to a new, larger market. This is all fine and dandy, but what a lot of consumers don't know is how much retailers have to pay in fees for online credit card transactions. Think 3% or as much as even 5% ( a lot considering billions are spent each year) as compared to 1% in brick and mortar stores. In an economy like this where retailers squeeze dollars or fold it's no wonder some are closing or limiting their online presence.

Things do seem to be getting better, though, don't they? Job loss has slowed; the outlook for turnaround seems to be 1 or 2 years away instead of as much as 15. Japan took 12 years to get out of their similar crisis. So put on a happy face and let's start shopping smart. Let's buy things we can afford. After all, so much of the problem lies in confidence, and I'm not just referring to the economy here.