According to the Deloitte Annual Holiday Survey, consumers will be turning to social media sites to help handle their holiday shopping this year. 17% of consumers, to be exact. It comes as no surprise that more than half of these users will be searching for discounts and deals. The rest are looking for gift ideas, and stalking the wishlists of their friends and family members.

Online shoppers predict they will spend an average of $281 online during Q4 2009, a 24 percent increase over last quarter. [via]

In years past, consumers were doing research for purchases online, but still following through with the purchases in retail stores. In the current economic climate these offline consumers are turning into online customers.

It’s about time for a little optimism, don’t you think?

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