US shoppers spent a record $18.5 billion online during the 2003 holiday season, according to the latest eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings.
This figure, which does not include travel, is 35% higher than the $13.7 billion outlay recorded for November and December 2002 and indicates growing customer demand for ecommerce.
“Online retailers have enjoyed a fantastic season in 2003,” said Abha Bhagat, senior analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings. “This is the third straight season of record growth, which indicates retailers are doing a much better job of appealing to customers through online channels as well as successfully integrating various channels to reach out to customers effectively.”
The study found that apparel and clothing was the most popular online shopping category generating $3.74 billion in revenue in the run-up to Christmas. This represented a 40% increase over the same period in 2002.
Online sales of toys and video games rose by 33% to $2.20 billion while spend on consumer electronics was up 2% to $2.04 billion. Internet shoppers paid out $1.65 billion on computer hardware and peripherals and video/DVD revenues leapt by 46% to $1.62 billion.
A survey of 9,500 online buyers shows that 63.1% were satisfied with their festive shopping experience, up from 59% in the 2002 holiday season. Only 3.6% of respondents said that they had encountered serious problems (non-delivery/wrong or defective product) when making internet purchases and just 7.4% were dissatisfied with the process as a hole. In a similar recent survey, just 2.5% of those questioned expressed unease with online shopping (see Consumers Sing Praises Of Online Shopping).
“As more people turn to the internet to do their holiday shopping , they are finding the online shopping experience to be a positive one,” said Lori Iventosch-James, director of ecommerce research at Harris Interactive. “During the 2003 holiday season, online retailers have gone the extra mile to meet customer expectations and that’s reflected in the higher level of satisfaction, the relatively small number of serious problems reported and the increase in online spending as a percentage of total holiday spending.”
eMarketer had predicted that US online retail sales would total $17.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003 (see US Ecommerce Forecasts From eMarketer).
