Women topped men in holiday online shopping - 58% of those who bought gifts online during the most recent shopping season were women. This is part of a broader story about advances in e-tailing as more people spent more money this year compared to last year. In all, close to 29 million people bought gifts online during the holiday season in 2001 and the average spent online was $392 per person. That is an increase from the approximately 20 million who bought gifts online last year and spent an average of $330, a national survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals.
At the same time, more people claimed to have saved time and money by purchasing goods online and fewer complained about or worried about the potential hassles of purchasing goods online.
Yet even as holiday shopping online was a growing phenomenon, significantly more online Americans used the Internet to socialize than to shop. More Internet users made holiday plans via email, downloaded craft ideas and recipes from the Web, and searched for spiritual information online than did anything connected to gift buying. Some 64% of online Americans used the Internet for social or spiritual activities, compared to 48% who used the Internet for gift ideas, price comparisons, or actual purchases.
But even this social phenomenon should be put in a larger context because Internet users were even more likely to use the phone and the mail system to make contact with others and exchange holiday greetings than they used the Internet to do so.
Americans did not much change their behavior during the holiday season, despite speculation they would avoid malls because of terrorist threats or use the postal system less because of anthrax threats. Tiny fractions of Americans cancelled trips or stayed away from malls because of their fear of terror attacks. And very few substituted email for holiday cards out of fear of using the U.S. postal system in the wake of scares about anthrax.
Overall, the entire population of e-shoppers continues to grow. Some 58% of Internet users have ever bought a product online, up from 51% last year at this time. That represents a jump of 11 million in the online shopping universe as it grew from 53 million adults in the holiday season in 2000 to 64 million this holiday season.
Fully one third of online holiday shoppers (32%) did at least some Internet gift buying while at work, up from 26% last year.
December 20, 2001 - Online shopping goes strong late into the holiday season
Jupiter Media Metrix, the global leader in Internet and new technology analysis and measurement, today released the fourth installment of its weekly Holiday 2001 E-Commerce Series, revealing the most comprehensive online shopping results for the week ending Dec. 16, 2001. The Jupiter Media Metrix Online Shopping Index, which aggregates Web visitors from both home and work to nearly 500 shopping sites and 19 subcategories, increased 55 percent versus the same week last year, climbing from 33.8 million to 52.3 million unique visitors. While the index is down one-tenth of a percent versus last week, the year-over-year growth of 55 percent compares strongly to the 25 percent annual growth rate of the same week last year.
"The growth trajectory increased each week during the first four weeks of this year's holiday shopping period, which is in marked contrast to last year when year-over-year growth rates declined each week," said Charles Buchwalter, vice president, media research, Jupiter Media Metrix. "That translates into a holiday season where the majority of online shopping activity occurs closer to Christmas versus earlier in the shopping season."
"Many consumers waited until late in the holiday season to make their gift purchases, and many were searching for late-season discounts," said Jared Blank, Jupiter Research analyst. "The late-season momentum of this year's online holiday traffic suggests that this year's sales expectations are likely to be exceeded. Moreover, steady traffic to many bricks-and-mortar sites indicates that consumers are researching online with the intent of buying in the actual stores, highlighting the need for retailers to integrate their online and offline operations."
Jupiter Media Metrix 2001 Holiday E-Commerce Series Highlights:
-- Top Gaining Sites -- This week's top gaining shopping sites, ranked according to their percent-growth in average daily visitors versus the previous week, include: Netflix.com, which increased 117 percent to 586,000 average daily visitors; Hallmark.com, which increased 71 percent to 415,000 average daily visitors; and Egreetings.com, which increased 63 percent to 287,000 average daily visitors. This week's top gaining shopping sites, ranked according to their total increase in average daily visitors versus the previous week, are: Mypoints.com, which increased by 519,000 average daily visitors to 2.5 million; Netflix.com, which increased by 316,000 average daily visitors to 586,000; and Half.com, which increased by 266,000 average daily visitors to 886,000.
-- Notable Category Gainers -- Notable gaining shopping categories, ranked according to their percent-change in average daily visitors versus the previous week, include: furniture sites, which increased 59 percent to 252,000; food, which increased 18 percent to 564,000; flowers-gifts-greetings, which increased 16 percent to 2.0 million average daily visitors; and movies sites, which increased 10 percent to 1.5 million average daily visitors. Top gaining categories, ranked according to their change in total visitors versus the previous week, include: flowers-gifts-greetings, which increased by 272,000 average daily visitors to 2.0 million; movies sites, which increased by 136,000 average daily visitors to 1.5 million; and food, which increased by 86,000 average daily visitors to 564,000.