Jupiterresearch Projects Online Holiday Sales To Reach $21.6 Billion In 2004, Up 19% From 2003
JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), today announced that, according to its recently released report, "Holiday 2004 Forecast: Consumers Look to Online For Inspiration and Planning," online retail holiday sales for the period of November and December 2004 will reach $21.6 billion, a 19% increase compared to the same period in 2003.
Online sales continue to experience double-digit increases, versus uneven growth offline, primarily due to the growing number of online buyers; 86 million U.S. residents are expected to make holiday purchases online this year compared to 73 million last year, an 18% increase. In addition, JupiterResearch forecasts a 2% increase in spending per buyer compared to last year.
While the usual list of top-selling categories: toys, books and apparel still dominates consumers' planned purchases this year, consumers say they will buy a wider variety of items online this year than in years past. This data reinforces the overall trend of consumers increasing the number of categories they purchase online.
"Consumers use the Internet to get inspiration as well as to find good prices at the holidays," said JupiterResearch retail analyst Patti Freeman Evans. "Over half of online holiday shoppers say they will use the Web to get gift ideas or to seek better prices. To capture these customers this holiday season, retailers are wise to use emails to alert customers who have left items in their shopping carts or wish lists when the price changes or inventories get low on those items. Also, shoppers say that many messages will influence them to buy earlier this holiday season with free shipping topping the list once again this year. However, as the season winds down, online holiday shoppers say that messages on reliable delivery, in stock reassurance (or limited supplies), complimentary upgrade to overnight shipping rather than full free shipping will resonate," added Freeman.
The complete findings of this report are immediately available to JupiterResearch clients online. For more information on the report or JupiterResearch Retail research service, please contact Kieran Kelly, Vice President of Global Sales and Client Service at 1-800-481-1212 or researchsales@jupitermedia.com.
Source: press release
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