By Chantal Tode, direct and retail reporter.Chantal covers print & production, direct mail and multichannelretail/e-commerce.
Moreconsumerswill shop online this year for holiday gifts than last year,accordingto a survey from e-commerce services provider MarketLive and consultancy The E-tailing Group released October 19.
Ofthe1,000 consumers queried for the 2009 Mindset of a Multi-ChannelShopperSurvey, 55% said they plan to do their holiday shopping via theWeb thisyear, compared to 49% last year.
The report alsoindicated thatthe online channel is gaining wallet share, with 26% ofshoppersplanning to purchase more gifts this year using the Internet.Last year,only 21% planned to buy more gifts online.
Consumerscited thetime saved by shopping online as the most popular reason forbypassingbricks-and-mortar stores, with 85% of respondents saying itis theirprimary reason for shopping online. Forty percent of shoppersalso citedwish lists and 38% named online reviews as factors in theirdecisions toshop online.
Retailers “have to be careful aboutdiscounting,”said Ken Burke, chairman, founder and chief evangelist atMarketLive.Last holiday season, retailers aggressively discountedprices to moveproducts off the shelves, but they undercut theirprofits and brandreputations while training consumers to expect suchdiscounts, he said.
Nearlynine in 10 consumers also said theyare willing to pay full price forhard-to-find products, convenienceand good customer service.
“Whileconsumers are telling us theylove value and that shipping costs are anissue, they are still willingto pay full price for service,” saidBurke.
The survey alsofound that 62% of shoppers report highshipping charges are the primaryreason they will not buy more online.The finding reflects why freeshipping promotions are one of the mostpopular discounts offered byonline retailers, said Burke, who addedthat the desire for goodcustomer service “came up again and again” inthe survey.
Consumers'desire for quality service bodes well forlarger retailers that havefully integrated their online and offlineoperations, Burke notes.While many retailers have reduced theirinventory levels from last year— putting them at risk of running out ofstock on more popular items —bigger merchants can make it easy forconsumers to find an item online.
“Anybody that has donemultichannel integration with inventorywill win,” said Burke, addingthat “some of the smaller retailers aresorely lacking” in this area.
These findings concur with last week's report from Shop.org and Forrester Research,“TheState of Retailing Online 2009: Profitability, EconomyandMultichannel,” which indicated that 34% of online retailersgainedmarket share from brick-and-mortar specialty stores this year.
Thestudyby MarketLive and E-tailing Group also found that mobile commerceandsocial media will play a larger role in consumers' shopping plansthisyear. One in three shoppers plans to use a mobile phoneforshopping-related purposes, such as price checks and redemptionofpromotions this holiday season. Social networking sites willinfluencethe shopping behavior of 37% of online shoppers this yearversus 24%last year, according to the report.
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