16% of the population has shopped online

A new survey reveals that 16% of the U.S. population over 18 used the Internet for some portion of their holiday shopping. Of that group, 37% made holiday purchases online, 54% used the Internet the research products and services, and 40% used the Internet to research a product before buying it in a store. The groups that showed the greatest gains in holiday shopping over last year were the under-$30,000 annual income households, the 55-75 age group and African Americans. All increased their Internet shopping by more than 60% over last year. Nearly half—43%--named convenience as the reason they shopped online, followed by selection (27%) and price (14%). Vertis, a marketing and market research company based in Baltimore, surveyed 1,000 consumers between Dec. 26 and Jan. 2. Vertis worked with the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association in designing the survey. It released results at the Retail Advertising Conference in Chicago today.