Twenty-seven percent of Americans say they will spend less on gifts this holiday period, but around the same number (32 percent) will direct more of their present-buying dollars to Amazon. In particular, big-spenders will drive an expected holiday boost for the giant online retailer, with 27 percent of people earning over $150,000 a year saying they will spend more on Amazon. The survey was conducted online on December 4th, 2012. Two thousand consumers in the U.S. participated in the survey.

Best Buy recently removed e-mail support from its web site, a move the company said was designed to improve response and to give customers the kind of interactions they seek. The problem with this change is twofold.