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Delays in the Holiday Home Stretch
Efforts by retailers to get holiday shoppers into the holiday spirit early have been unsuccessful, as consumers are waiting longer than ever to make their purchases.
As of last weekend, 18 percent of shoppers hadn’t started their holiday shopping, according to a survey by NPD. That’s seven percent more than a year ago. Two-thirds had not competed their Santa-like tasks, versus about half in 2006. The biggest procrastinators were men, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), where one in five hadn’t begun their holiday shopping compared to women (13.7 percent) or young adults (17.6 percent). On the other hand, about 25 million consumers (11.7 percent) had completed their holiday shopping.
Retailers online are reacting with free upgrades on shipping, according to the NRF, whereas in the past consumers would have to pay a premium for expedited delivery.
The bright spot this season: online shopping sales are up 19 percent for the first 46 days of the holiday season (Nov. 1-Dec. 16) compared to last year. More than $23 billion has been spent online so far this holiday. The fastest growing online sales category has been “video games, consoles and accessories,” up 129 percent versus a year ago. ComScore, Inc., predicts online shopping for the Christmas holiday season will be up 20 percent from a year ago.
As of Dec. 14, there were marked differences in the growth rates for online shopping depending on income level of shoppers, according to comScore. Not surprisingly, increases in online spending were directly related to income. The lowest income shoppers increased their online spending by 10 percent compared to 28 percent for the highest income level. Those in between increased their spending by 17 percent.
Coremetrics reports that sports apparel was the online retail sector experiencing the largest increase in average order, up 12 percent. In terms of number of sales and online checkouts, department stores led the sectors with 37 percent and 34 percent increases, respectively.
Nielsen Online notes that Dec. 10 was the busiest shopping day so far, with 34.9 million unique visitors to its Online Holiday eShopping Index. Last week it reported traffic up 10 percent on the 120 e-commerce sites tracked. The fastest growing category last week was Flowers & Gifts, up 29 percent from a year ago.
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