Online shopping growing less reliant on holidays to drive sales

[January 15th 2001]

While this year's online holiday sales grew by 60 percent to reach $6 billion, many e-tailers will no longer have to be as dependent on the season to boost their annual revenue.

According to BizRate.com, apparel, gifts and consumer goods were among five retail categories that saw the holiday share of their annual sales decrease compared to 1999 -- an indication of the maturation of e-commerce. This is one of a number of findings issued today as part of BizRate.com's Holiday 2000 Summary.

"Clearly consumers are shopping online throughout the year -- not just for the holidays," said Chuck Davis, president and CEO of BizRate.com. "While toys will likely remain seasonal, it is a sign of the Web's growing maturity that other retail categories, like consumer goods and gifts, can garner more of their revenue outside the holidays and not rely on five weeks of intensified shopping for their sales."

Overall, repeat online shoppers overwhelmingly rated their holiday 2000 buying experience as the same or better than their experience in 1999. Placing orders and order tracking saw the greatest improvement in customer satisfaction compared to the previous holiday season.

"We saw online merchants excel in providing consumers the tools to easily order and track their purchases this year," added Davis. "However, merchants were challenged by consumers' expectations for much faster-loading Web pages."

Additional BizRate.com Holiday 2000 Findings

• Returns increased to 15 percent, compared to 13 percent last year, a possible result of an increased volume of orders and the opportunity to return items through more than one retail channel.

• For the first time women outnumbered men online, comprising 55 percent of all online holiday shoppers. This marks a steady increase for online women buyers, who comprised 49 percent of online holiday shoppers in 1999 and 39 percent in 1998.

• Of the more than 12,000 online shoppers surveyed by BizRate.com, 19 percent did not purchase from any of the online merchants they had frequented last year.

• On-time deliveries increased from 74 percent in 1999 to 87 percent in 2000. By category, toys had the best record for timely delivery at 89 percent; followed by home and garden items at 88 percent; and apparel, gifts and consumer goods all tied at 87 percent.

• Retail categories experiencing the highest level of growth in sales compared to Holiday 1999 included home and garden (+277.1 percent), toys (+158.5 percent), and food and wine (+77.4 percent).

• Despite improvements in e-tailers' fulfillment and customer service, surveyed shoppers remained frustrated with slow-loading Web sites -- with 63 percent of respondents experiencing this problem during the holidays.

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