Survey: Holiday e-commerce spending reaches $18 billion
Thursday, Dec. 6, heaviest online spending day on record
December 10, 2007
Reston, Va.—More than $18 billion has been spent online during the holiday season to date (Nov.1-Dec. 7), representing an 18 percent increase compared with the same period last year, according to
ComScore Inc.
Thursday, Dec. 6, marked the heaviest online spending day in history with $803 million in sales, up 28 percent versus a year ago.
"December got off to a strong start, as we saw spending growth accelerate to 20 percent for the week [ending Dec. 7] and the first ever $800 million online spending day on record," ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. "It was a terrific kick-start to December, but we expect the upcoming week to be the heaviest online spending week of the holiday season as the procrastinators and late-season deal-seekers come out in earnest."
According to ComScore, video games, consoles and accessories represent the strongest growing online product category this holiday season, with sales up more than 130 percent versus a year ago.
"The Nintendo Wii is attracting particularly strong interest, as evidenced by the intense search activity occurring around the product," Fulgoni said. "While iPods and iPhones are predictably popular, we're also seeing that consumers are actively searching for information on GPS products. This is a category that can be expected to grow strongly during the next few years."
In related news, two-thirds (67.01 percent) of online retailers said the deadline to place orders for ground shipping with delivery by Christmas is on or before Dec. 18, according to the latest 2007
Shop.org/Shopzilla eHoliday Study.
"Internet retailers have a vested interest in encouraging people to shop early because their holiday season ends a week before Christmas," Shop.org Executive Director Scott Silverman said in a statement. "Once orders are placed, companies are pushing the envelope this year to get merchandise shipped and delivered in time for Christmas."
According to the study, online shoppers are using a variety of Internet resources to shop for holiday gifts this year. While two-thirds (69.9 percent) of shoppers have visited a specific retailer's Web site to look for gifts, others have visited a search engine (31.6 percent) or shopped in a catalog or a store (30.9 percent) to determine what they wanted to buy online. In addition, nearly one in five people (18.8 percent) have used a comparison shopping site to shop.
Consumers are also relying on certain site features to make purchasing decisions. The feature most popular with shoppers is an online catalog, which 61.8 percent of shoppers have used this holiday season. Online shoppers also said they used consumer product reviews (58.7 percent), clearance sale pages (56.4 percent) and featured sale pages (51.3 percent) to make decisions about what to buy this holiday season.
In terms of gift-specific features available on retail sites, online shoppers noted that shipping-deadline calendars (63.6 percent), gift receipts (56.1 percent) and the ability to purchase gift cards (50.1 percent) are important. By contrast, only one in five consumers (21.8 percent) surveyed indicated that gift wrap is an important option, which could be a reflection of the customary additional cost charged for that service.
With gift card sales expected to reach $26.3 billion this holiday season according to the National Retail Federation, online retailers are seizing the opportunity to increase sales and bring in new customers. According to the survey, more than two-thirds of online retailers are giving customers the opportunity to both purchase (72.5 percent) and redeem (76.6 percent) gift cards or gift certificates on their Web sites.
Gift cards are a popular choice for online shoppers as 32.8 percent of people surveyed plan to purchase at least one gift card online this holiday season. While many gift givers will have gift cards mailed directly to the recipient (63.9 percent), others will have the card mailed to them (25.9 percent) or have the card sent electronically (13.5 percent).
Most shoppers (86 percent) who expect to receive gift cards this holiday season said they would be likely to redeem gift cards they receive online.
"The ability to buy gift cards online creates a virtual utopia for shoppers who hate to deal with crowded malls at this time of year," Silverman said. "Retailers are already preparing for the days after Christmas so people who want to redeem gift cards online will have plenty of merchandise to choose from."
The eHoliday Study, now in its sixth year, provides an authoritative snapshot of the holiday activities of both large and small online retailers, many of which have been in business for at least nine years, and also includes the sentiments of online holiday shoppers. The study, conducted by Shopzilla for Shop.org, surveyed 2,781 online buyers from Nov. 27-29, and 116 online retailers from Sept. 26-Oct. 8.
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