NEW YORK and LONDON, November 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Retail Decisions (ReD) predicts that 2009 will be a lucrative Thanksgiving for retailers as online retail sales could hit $51 billion (1) over the holiday season, up 23% on last year's $41.4 billion(2). ReD, a world leader in card fraud prevention, payment processing and a card issuer, screens some sixteen billion card transactions annually for fraud, and has seen actual online retail sales surpass 2008 by 23% since November 1 2009.

ReD also predicts on the November 27, popularly known as Black Friday, the busiest shopping hour of the year will be between 13:00 to 14:00 when $140 million worth of goods will be purchased online. The peak shopping minute will be at 13:16 when between $2.6 million and $3 million of sales are expected.

On November 30, known as Cyber Monday, the online spending spree looks set to continue. ReD forecasts between 11.2 million and 12.8million online transactions will take place, making Cyber Monday the second busiest online trading day of the year.

Yet again, gift cards are topping the shopping charts across the nation, with the Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii and DVD box sets following closely behind. This year the American people's top gift choices are closely mirrored by the fraudsters shopping cart, where the top four products are gift cards, the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and the new Xbox game, "Call of Duty. On average fraudsters attempt to spend $248 per transaction online, a staggering 23% more than the average genuine customer.

ReD's data also shows there is an uneven rate of recovery across the nation in the wake of the credit crunch. For example, online retail growth has been stronger in California, compared to New York, since the beginning of November. Last year Californians were making 10% more purchases online than New Yorkers, and this has now increased to 26%.

"The 23% rise in online sales since November 1 shows green shoots in the US economy for the first time since the catastrophic spending freeze during the same period last year." says Carl Clump, ReD's Chief Executive Officer. "However this season's optimism will be dampened by fraudsters attempting to exploit retailers whilst they are coping with increased demand. We envisage a 38% rise in online fraud attempts on Black Friday compared to the same period last year."

    What's Hot Online

    1) Virtual gift cards and gift cards
    2) DVD box sets
        - Star trek XI
        - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
        - Night at the Museum
        - Angels & Demons
        - Terminator
    3) Nintendo Wii
    4) Xbox 360

    What's Hot with Fraudsters

    1) Virtual gift cards and gift cards
    2) Xbox 360
    3) Nintendo Wii
    4) The "Call of Duty" Xbox game

    (1) All figures and predictions in this document are based on Retail
        Decisions' transaction data only, unless otherwise stated.

    (2) http://www.Forrester.com

About ReD

Retail Decisions (ReD) is a payment card issuer and world leader in card fraud prevention and payment processing. A specialist supplier to the payments industry worldwide, ReD has over 20 years experience in the fraud prevention market. Its blue-chip international clients come from the global telecommunications, retail, travel, petroleum, banking and the broader e-commerce sectors. They include Wal-Mart, Macy's, Bloomingdales, Sears, Texaco, Shell, Boots, John Lewis, China Airlines, The Carphone Warehouse, Comet, Travelocity, T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

The company has offices in the United States, UK, Mainland Europe, Australia, China and South Africa with representation in India, Japan, Korea and South America.

More information about ReD please visit: http://www.redplc.com

SOURCE Retail Decisions (ReD)

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