Online holiday retail sales this year will grow to $32 billion, an increase of 18 percent over last year’s holiday season, according to a report released Oct. 10 by JupiterResearch, New York.
According to JupiterResearch’s “Online Retail Holiday Forecast, 2006,” a record 114 million users — a 6 percent increase over last year — will buy online this holiday season.
Patti Freeman Evans, senior analyst at JupiterResearch and lead author of the report said for retailers selling online, the larger opportunity this holiday season will come from increased levels of spending from existing online buyers.
Additionally, she said more than one-third of online holiday shoppers will still make online purchases after ground cut-off dates, which signals opportunity as well as added stress for retailers to capture the inevitable last-minute purchases.
Retailers may be able to help online shoppers feel as though they are more in control of the season by presenting shipping cut-off dates early and using them more frequently in their messaging, Ms. Freeman Evans said in her report.
JupiterResearch also said that it has found that more than half of online holiday shoppers say that seeing shipping cut-off dates helps them plan their shopping for earlier in the season.
