US Consumer News Release    Monday, November 19, 2012

More are set to turn to internet for exclusive on-line savings this Thanksgiving as spending jumped 26% to $816m in 2011.

With 71% of Americans believing that the best deals are on-line, more than ever are expected to start their holiday shopping on Black Friday this week in the calm of their homes, sitting comfortably in front of their computer screens.

With the benefits of no long lines or mad dashes to grab the season’s hottest toy, on-line shopping during Thanksgiving weekend has experienced huge growth over the last couple of years. ComScore’s data shows that on-line spending on Black Friday 2011 grew 26% from Black Friday 2010 to $816million, making it the heaviest on-line spending day to date in 2011.

As an increasing number of people become savvier to combat recession woes, more are discovering new ways to cut the cost of purchases.  One of the best saving phenomena to hit the States is cashback websites.  20% of people said that the reason they will be shopping on-line this holiday season is to get cashback on their purchases.

TopCashback, the USA’s most generous money rebates site, offers savings across 2,300 on-line stores, including four of the top five retailers visited on Black Friday 2011: Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple.  When residents are scouring the web for their holiday shopping, snapping up goods at cut down prices, cashback users will receive the added bonus of earning money while they shop.

Savings can run into hundreds of dollars especially for those who buy the significant bulk of their holiday shopping in the Black Friday sales, which seems to be the typical trend. In 2010, comScore reported the first-ever $1billion on-line shopping day ($1,028million worth of sales) on Cyber Monday; an increase of 16% over 2009.

In 2011, comScore reported that Cyber Week saw Americans spend over $6 billion on-line between November 28th and December 2nd.  Given that cashback is based on a percentage of what you spend, shoppers are set to gain the most during their holiday season shopping. For instance, TopCashback currently offers up to 6% cashback for Best Buy purchases.

So, if a customer were to buy a Whirlpool 7.4 Cu electric Dryer, currently discounted to $799.99 from $1,149.99, not only would they benefit from the $350 saving, they would earn an extra $48 in cashback also.  Natasha-Rachel Smith, Head of Communications and PR for TopCashback, said: "Gone are the days when waiting in line for hours is the only way to get their hands on the biggest Thanksgiving discounts."

"The on-line arena has become a bigger contender in holiday shopping year-after-year and some stores like Best Buy are now even offering on-line-only deals to react to this shift in consumer behavior.  Cashback and other discounts exclusive to internet shopping have been instrumental in attracting more shoppers than ever to the on-line marketplace.  We understand that residents will be seeking the very best savings this Thanksgiving, and using our site is another way for people to make the money they spend stretch further."

Natasha-Rachel concluded: "We’re proud to offer something that no other cashback site does; we give the entire cashback rebate we’re paid by stores back to our members. We also allow members to cash-out whenever they want and do not force a minimum cashback withdrawal threshold. If a member’s balance is one cent, they can request it and we’ll give it to them. More and more consumers are also discovering our unrivaled retailer cashback rates: around 90% of them are the highest on the web and where they’re not we guarantee to match it. These elements make us the USA’s most generous cashback rebates site."

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TopCashback.com is the USA’s Most Generous Cashback Website and is completely free to join and use. It passes at least 100% of the commission rate that retailers pay it - to advertise their products and services –back to its members. The site is primarily aimed at US consumers as it functions using USD but Canadian consumers are welcome to use its service too. It was released in beta in September 2011 and fully launched in November 2011. TopCashback.com includes over 2,300 retailers (from big names to smaller, niche on-line sellers) plus a large range of coupon codes. Over $575,000 in cashback has been earned by TopCashback.com’s members to date, a figure that is predicted to hit $1 million by the end of 2012.

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