Online conversion rose 27% over the average rate of conversion the rest of the year during the five weeks leading into Christmas, when it was 4.6% versus the yearlong weekly average of 3.6%, according to benchmark data gathered by DoubleClick Inc.’s
analytic product, SiteAdvance.
The tool, which represents a pool of 88 million visitors, 121 million site visits, 8.6 million total shopping carts, 2.6 million purchased carts and $400 million in sales, also found that traffic surged, with the number of overall site visitors 88% higher during the holiday than the 2003 weekly average, and the number of site visits up 72% and page views up 116% over averages for the rest of the year. Online revenue was up 123% over the rest of the year.
While the web offered the option of hurried last-minute shopping, DoubleClick's data showed it wasn’t the norm as more online shoppers took their time and researched purchases before buying. Visitors looked at an average of 11 pages during each session, a 24% increase from the 2003 average, and session length increased 10% to 5.44 minutes. Early-season shoppers carted products more frequently than those shopping later, and they purchased at higher rates, driving 66% of overall holiday revenue online. Early shoppers spent an average of 23% more time on their purchases than late-season shoppers.
The holiday season saw greater abandonment of carted products than during the rest of the year. For every dollar sold, more than $6 was abandoned in a shopping cart. Abandoned cart values were up 10% from the yearlong weekly average, representing a value of $412. Late-season shoppers were more likely to cart and abandon a product than those shopping early, with abandonment rates increasing 20% during the fourth week of December, due in part to higher shipping charges required to meet the holiday deadline, according to DoubleClick.
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