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Holiday Season Shoppers Flocking to Web

January 13 2004

Online holiday shoppers in the US spent a record $18.5bn online excluding travel during the 2003 holiday season, according to the eSpending Report from Goldman, Sachs & Co., Harris Interactive(r), and Nielsen//NetRatings. This represents an increase of 35% over the $13.7bn spent in 2002.

The eSpending Report found that the product categories for apparel, toys/video games (hardware and software), consumer electronics, computer hardware and peripherals and video/DVD, generated the most revenue this season. Apparel is comfortably the top category - online shoppers spent $3.8bn on it this season, a 40% increase from 2002. In second place, $2.2bn was spent on toys and video games (hardware and software) - up 33% from the previous year - and video/DVD had a strong season with shoppers spending $1.6bn, up 46%.

Table 1. Popular Online Shopping Categories
Ranked by Total Revenue through December 26, 2003

Category2003 Holiday Projected Online Revenue in MillionsYear-Over-Year Growth
Apparel/Clothing$3,73840%
Toys/Video games $2,19733%
Consumer Electronics$2,0442%
Computer Hardware/Peripherals$1,650----*
Video/DVD $1,61946%

Source: Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings eSpending Report, December 2003
Number of respondents = 9,517 online users
*Year-over-year percent growth unavailable for this category due to small sample size in 2002.



'Online retailers have enjoyed a fantastic season in 2003', said Abha Bhagat, senior analystat 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 them'.

The final weekly eSpending Report showed that shoppers were more satisfied with their online shopping experience (See Table 2). During the 2003 shopping season, 63 percent of online shoppers were satisfied with their overall shopping experience, a five-point increase from 2002. Seven percent (7%) were dissatisfied, a one-point decrease from 2002.

Shoppers also reported very few serious problems when ordering online (see Table 3) and spent more of their total shopping budget online this season (see Table 4).

Table 2. Overall Online Customer Satisfaction Year-to-Year
Satisfaction Level200320022002 to 2003
Percentage Points
Change
Satisfied63.1%59%+4.1
Dissatisfied7.4%8%-0.6

Source: Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings eSpending Report, December 2003Questions asked: For the entire holiday shopping season, please rate your overall shopping satisfaction so far.
Total Number of respondents: 2002 - 9,008, 2003 - 9,517

Only 3.6% of customers reported any serious problems with the online purchasing experience - two thirds of these said their order was not received when promised, and one third that an incorrect or defective product was received. The overall percentage of shoppers' holiday budget they expected to spend online has risen from 16.3% to 19.7%.

'During the 2003 holiday season, online retailers have gone the extra mile to meet customer expectations', according to Lori Iventosch-James, director of ecommerce research at Harris Interactive. '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'.

The eSpending Report by Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings is based on a weekly national survey of between 800 and 1,700 online shoppers randomly chosen from Harris Interactive's online panel of survey respondents in the US. The Holiday Season summary data is based on more than 9,500 responses in November and December 2003. The eSpending report offers weekly intelligence on online shopping and spending by market segment and also tracks consumer attitudes and motivations that drive online shopping.


All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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