US online retail sales will reach almost $17 billion during the holiday season, a 22% increase over the same period last year, according to a new study from Jupiter Research.
The report,
Holiday 2003: Online Pushes Limits of Last Minute Shopping, found that nearly 40% of online users plan to do some or all of their Christmas shopping via the internet, an increase of 18% over 2002.
Half of survey respondents said that they can find products they want more easily online than in the shops and anxiety about fraud appears to be dissipating. Only 36% expressed concerns about credit card security, compared to 47% last year.
Jupiter claims that online sales totalled $13.8 billion in the last two months of 2002 but increased confidence in the internet should see this rise to $16.8 billion this year. Books and clothing remain the most popular online purchases but toy sales have now overtaken music.
“Given the short selling season and the highest projected online holiday sales volume ever, online retailers stand to gain or lose a great deal by anticipating consumers’ last-minute shopping needs,” said Patti Freeman Evans, retail analyst at Jupiter Research.
“Because consumers’ primary concerns about buying gifts online centre on shipping and delivery, retailers who fulfil orders on time, even very late in the buying season, stand to garner high loyalty points with holiday shoppers.”
A recent survey by BURST! Media found that 65% of online consumers plan to research or purchase gifts in the run-up to Christmas (see Consumers Prepare For An Online Christmas).
