Online retailers expect another strong holiday season, Shop.org reports

Online retailers are feeling good about the approaching holiday shopping season, reports a new survey from Shop.org and BizRate.com. The 2003 Shop.org/BizRate.com eHoliday Mood Study reports that 67% of online retailers are optimistic about this year’s holiday season, up from 60% last year. The survey also reports that 62% of online retailers have experienced revenues more than 25% higher than last year at this time and almost a quarter have experienced more than 80% growth.

The survey interviewed 90 online retailers about their online selling from Nov. 2-15. “Many retailers now have four, five or several online holiday seasons under their belts and they’ve become very skilled at attracting customers and delivering great shopping experiences to them,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, the online division of the National Retail Federation. “Based on the numbers we’re seeing so far, online retailers have plenty of reasons to be optimistic so early in the holiday season.”

The study also evaluated the success of online retailers’ marketing efforts. For the first two weeks of November, retailers said free shipping with conditions has been the most successful tool in driving holiday business (37%). The survey found that the top three promotional vehicles thus far are e-mailing to a customer list (74%), search engine marketing (46%), and affiliate marketing (38%).