It would seem that even Google is not immune from the market downturn. Online search has diminished as people reduce their searches for items to research and purchase. If you have limited funds to spend, why bother searching for new products? Many thought Google would be less affected by this trend, but it seems that cutting back and bargain hunting does affect the search engine.

Even the luxury goods market is having to – dare I say it…”discount”. This is most unusual, but these are most unusual times. If you are in the market for an item that has heretofore been out of your price range, take a look at Chloe, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and the like. The fashion houses are not going to drop their prices enormously because this would damage their brand image. It’s a delicate balance between moving product while maintaining the mystique and cache of those items. Additionally, most of these fashion houses have vast margins so they can ride out this pesky dry spell. And most of the luxury shoes and clothing hail from Europe: both labor and materials are paid for in Euros. The dollar has recently been on the rise, which is actually helping and enabling the fashion houses to pass on savings in the range of 10% - 15% on to their American customers, as they had already budgeted for a weaker dollar.

While we would not want to encourage anyone to go out and spend, spend, spend, if you have the means and always wanted that little black dress, well perhaps now is the time to realize that dream.