A new study from The Nielsen Company finds that 49 percent of U.S. consumers are reducing their spending to compensate for rising gas prices, up four points from June 2007. 70 percent of consumers are combining shopping trips and errands, and 41 percent are eating out less, and 39 percent staying home more often.

Todd Hale, senior vice president of Consumer Shopping & Insights, said “…our research shows a jump in consumers shopping on the Internet as a way to deal with high gas prices… a wake-up call for manufacturers and retailers alike to step up their ‘direct-to-consumer’ efforts and utilize the Internet to communicate directly with consumers in 2008… “