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Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Co., found consumers will continue to shift their gift buying online this holiday season, citing convenience, time saving and price among the primary reasons for shopping on the web. With the current economic downturn, there is an increased focus on price this year, with 53 percent of consumers citing price as a reason to buy online, compared with 46 percent last year. Interestingly, though, consumers continue to trump convenience more than price as the primary value of the channel, with 76 percent of consumers citing the ability to shop 24 hours a day, and 74 percent citing time saving for why they shop online.
These results are from a Nielsen Online pre-holiday survey intended to gauge online consumers’ holiday shopping plans for 2008. The online survey was fielded from Nov. 6-11 among approximately 1,300 online shoppers in the United States who did holiday shopping online last year and/or planned to do so this year.
1. Able to shop 24 hours a day (76 percent)
2. Saves time (74 percent)
3. Avoiding crowds (65 percent)
4. Saves gas (59 percent)
5. Sales/Discounts/Promotions (55 percent)
6. Low prices (53 percent)
7. Comparison shopping (48 percent)
8. Selection (40 percent)
9. Available product information (37 percent)
10. Items are in stock (37 percent)
Survey results indicate holiday gift budgets are shifting online. Respondents said that they would spend an increased percent of their holiday shopping budget online, an average of 41 percent compared to 39 percent last year. And more respondents indicated that they would spend the majority of their holiday gift budgets online, up to 36 percent from 32 percent a year ago.
[source: PMA Newsline]
