Online holiday retail spending rose 24%, eSpending Report says
Sparked by sharp increases in sales of toys, video games and consumer electronics, consumers spent $13.7 billion online on non-travel-related categories during the 2002 holiday shopping season, up 24% from 2001, according to the eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Harris Interactive and Nielsen/NetRatings. The study also noted that shoppers last year spent 16% of their holiday budgets on online purchases, up from 14% in 2001.
“With each holiday season, e-commerce becomes more of a mainstream activity, attracting a greater audience,” said Lori Iventosch-James, director of e-commerce research at Harris Interactive. “This season, shoppers allotted more of their holiday budget to online spending. And this, combined with an increase in the total e-commerce population, helped drive year-over-year growth.”
Overall holiday spending including travel reached $15.7 billion in 2002, up 22% from 2001.
Iventosch-James said that significant price discounts and free-shipping offers drove consumers to start shopping early in the season, but that there was also an increase in shopping just before Christmas, indicating that shoppers are becoming more comfortable with shopping late and still getting their gifts on time. The study defined the 2002 holiday shopping season as Nov. 2 through Dec. 27.
Online shoppers spent the most--$3.11 billion--on books, music and videos and DVDs, causing that category to rise 40% during 2002’s holiday shopping season over 2001’s, the study said. Apparel was the second-highest category at $2.68 billion, up 20% from a year ago.
Among the fastest growing categories, consumer electronics reached $1.96 billion in holiday 2002, a rise of 72.4% over 2001, and toys/video games hit $1.84 billion, up 72.5%.
The travel category rose the least, 5.8%, to $1.97 billion.
The study also noted that women comprised 51% of the total online shopping population in the 2002 holiday season, compared to 49% in 2001. Consumers aged 18-24 showed the only increase in share of the online shopping population, to 17% from 10%. All other age groups declined, except for those aged 55 and over, which remained constant at 19%.
The shares for other age groups, 2001/2002:
-- 25-34: 23%/21%;
-- 35-44: 26%/22%; and
-- 45-54: 22%/21%.
The eSpending Report is based on a weekly national survey of more than 750 online shoppers (18 and older) randomly chosen from Harris Interactive’s online panel.
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