Online holiday shopping starts with 14% jump in e-retail traffic last week

With a 14% increase in traffic to retailing web sites last week over the week earlier, the online holiday shopping season has started, says the eSpending Report released today by Goldman Sachs, an investment banking and securities firm, market researchers Harris Interactive and NetRatings Inc., an Internet audience measurement and analysis firm.

Of online shoppers, 67% said price was their main purchasing factor, while 59% cited product selection. Additionally, 26% said shipping costs affect their purchasing decisions.

"With the holiday season starting in the second week of November this year, we can expect online activity to grow steadily as the season progresses," said Lori Iventosch-James, director of e-commerce research at Harris Interactive. "The overall outlook for the holiday season is positive, as popular online categories such as home and garden, toys and video games have already emerged as hot gift categories this season."

The survey, based upon a weekly national survey of 500 online shoppers randomly chosen from Harris Interactive`s multimillion-member panel of Internet users, also reported that 35% of shoppers are very satisfied with their online holiday shopping experience so far. Additionally, 17% said their holiday shopping satisfaction is higher this season than last.