Global consumer confidence edged up slightly as rising Asian markets were offset by Europe’s growing concerns of an escalating debt crisis according to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index.

While it’s still nice to stop by a store to touch and see products, the convenience of online shopping can’t be beat. And for some services, such as booking travel or buying concert tickets, the ability to do so online has made the process much easier and more efficient.

It has been just over a month since the peak of the May political unrest in Thailand, but most Thai consumers (7 out of 10) say their lives are already back to normal, or will return to normal within a month.

While concern about the economy and job security still remains, Nordic consumers are more optimistic than the rest of Europe regarding the state of their personal finances and their willingness to spend.

Over the past two decades, expanding global supply, shortened product life cycles, an abundance of precision data and new interactive and social media have dramatically empowered consumers.

In a sign that the world is recovering from a “Great Recession,” consumer confidence levels have reached pre-downturn levels in some countries, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index.

Chinese consumer confidence continues to build going into 2010, up three points since the third quarter of 2009 and reaching highs not seen since the second half of 2007

Driven by a more positive outlook on job prospects and personal finances, Hong Kong consumers are boosting consumption and spending

Mirroring the sentiments of consumers in many other countries, the British are feeling increasingly positive about their job prospects and personal finances but remain cautious

Over the past six months, Canadian consumers have stopped talking about recession and changed the conversation to recovery.