Bumper Season for Online Holiday Shopping

Online sales caputred significant share of the retail market in the US over the holidays, one American survey placing the figure this year at over 23 billion dollars in total gift purchases. This is an overall rise of 26% on last year's sales. Total online spending for 2006 surpassed $100 billion for the very first time, added Reston, Virginia analyst ComScore Netrowks.

Ease of access and use on retail sites and prompt product delivery are critical to consumer's perception of value and their intention to return to the site. Researchers into online shopping added that "consumers noted continuing privacy and concerns were down about how vendors use their personal information".

In the US, shoppers are clearly avid online purchasers, with no qualms about making big purchases items or returning to sites regularly. During the eight-week period leading up to Christmas sales rose 38% compared to the corresponding week in 2005, reported comScore.

"Online sales continued to show strong growth during the last week before Christmas when procrastinators were clicking with confidence", said Gaia Fulgoni, chairman of comScore. "Consumers making purchases in the final days expressed both confidence in retailers ability to pick and pack their orders in a timely fashion and drop them to recipients' doorsteps on time for Christmas".

According to ComScore, Amazon lead all retailers in online holiday sales, followed by Dell.com, Yahoo.com, Walmart.com, and Ticketmaster.com. Nielsen/Net ratings reported in late December that visits to online-only retailers on its Holiday eShopping Index were 54% higher than visits to retailers with online offerings and brick-and-mortar stores.

Consumers currently feel free shipping is the most decisive factor for them in selecting where to make holiday purchases on the web. According to a study of the 40 largest et-ailers by Forsee Results, free shipping without restrictions significantly affects consumer satisfaction and loyalty and is an effective tool for coverting first-time buyers.

Among 10,000 respondents to ForSee survey, 41% said free shipping was the key factor for online purchase decisions, and 79% said free shipping persuaded them to select one online retailer over another. ForSee added that consumers expect free shipping, discounts and other "gimmicks" during the holiday season.

This year's run up to the holiday season in the US the main purchases other than books were jewelry, watches (67%), video games (64%), video game consoles (63%) tickets (55%) and consumer electronics (39%). These figures show a signal of maturing online marketing retail sales and the confidence of consumers now at an all time high. The overall feeling by online retail firms is that this growth will continue throughout the year 2007.