Online consumers in the US plan to buy more gifts over the Web this holiday season than the last, according to research by PC Data. The survey found that online consumers intend to purchase 38 percent of their holiday gifts online, up from 25 percent in 1999. Almost half (47 percent) of their gifts will be bought at traditional retail stores and 15 percent through catalogs.
Over 60 percent of Internet shoppers said their main motivation for shopping online was to avoid the crowds, while 52 percent believed it was easier to compare prices and products online. Nearly 45 percent were attracted by the wide selection of products offered by Internet stores. Meanwhile, Forrester Research predicts that by 2005, consumers will spend at least USD36 billion on gifts purchased over the Web.
Figures in the report ‘Pulling in Online Gift Buyers’ showed that 57 percent of Internet users have already purchased gifts online. Of these shoppers, 84 percent said they were happy with their most recent online gift purchase. Forrester advised etailers to focus on their fulfillment capabilities-for most online gift buyers, the top priority is that their gift arrives on time.
