MORE ACTION, LOWER TICKETS
Byline: Valerie Seckler
NEW YORK — Four of five cyber-shoppers plan to spend the same, or more, online this holiday as last year, and the average transaction price on the Web is hovering around $100 so far this season.
Those findings were disclosed last week in a new Internet shopping survey conducted for America Online by International Communications Research, a market research firm based in Media, Pa.
“The average transaction value is coming down a bit, but that is not necessarily bad news,” contended Patrick Gates, vice president of e-commerce at America Online.
“As more of a mass audience — one that more closely mirrors the general population — shops online, they are making more repeat visits, but not spending as much per visit,” Gates said. “The big influx of lower-ticket items, such as apparel and accessories, also is decreasing the size of purchases.”
The AOL executive said the average transaction ticket online was higher a year ago because purchases were less focused on relatively low-priced products, such as apparel and gifts. “Computer hardware and digital cameras are no longer dominant,” he added.
Approximately 15 percent of AOL’s members are buying apparel on the site, according to Gates, who said clothing had recently been one of its five best-selling categories of merchandise.
More broadly, Gates said, “We are tracking the dollar volume and number of shoppers, and they are both up, substantially, over last year.”
More than four million cyber-shoppers made purchases at AOL’s e-commerce areas during Thanksgiving week, according to Gates, marking a threefold leap over the prior-year period.
“We have already surpassed sales of $1.2 billion this holiday, the volume we did during the whole of holiday 1998,” he said, explaining that AOL sees the season’s selling period as starting on Nov. 15, and continuing through “early January.”
The new Net study showed that 75 percent of online shoppers intend to make purchases on the Web this holiday; 42 percent said they expected to someday do all their holiday gift shopping the e-way.
Other responses from e-shoppers canvassed in the holiday survey showed:
Seventeen percent found out about new fashions, or fashion trends, on the Net, 50 percent discovered new books or authors online and 20 percent learned of musicians who are new to them.
Fifty-seven percent said the Web helps them locate hard-to-find items that are not available at nearby stores.
Forty percent first learned of online shopping on the Internet; 16 percent, from friends, and 8 percent, from family members.
Seventy percent are shopping online exclusively from home, 22 percent are shopping from both work and home and 8 percent are shopping only at work.
Convenience, rather than price, was the number-one driver of business online, the survey found; it canvassed a nationally representative sample of cyber-shoppers in November. Forty percent of Net shoppers contacted said they would rather shop online than at traditional shopping malls during November and December, and 60 percent of those surveyed responded, “I have shopped online at home in my pajamas.”
Those findings echo research reported this month in a new Net study conducted by Jupiter Communications, which found the number-one reason people are cyber-shopping this holiday is to “avoid crowds.” In fact, 52 percent of the cyber-shoppers surveyed by Internet consultant Jupiter gave that as their primary reason for e-shopping.
Other drivers of Net purchasing, Jupiter found, are, in descending order: saving time, with 51 percent citing that factor; finding better prices, 41 percent; product availability, 30 percent; items are easier to locate, 23 percent, and gift delivery offers, 18 percent.
“Price usually comes up as the number-one reason people shop online, but during this holiday season, convenience is becoming the biggest factor, as the malls become a less pleasant place to be,” said Ken Cassar, digital commerce analyst at Jupiter Communications.
It’s not all bad news for the brick-and-mortar crowd, though.
Jupiter’s research determined that familiarity with a traditional store brand was the chief motivation for shopping a particular Web site; 51 percent of the cyber-shoppers canvassed said it influenced their choice of online destination.
Other leading motivations for shopping a specific site, Jupiter said, were: having previously made a purchase at a traditional store that had opened a Web site, with 39 percent giving that reason; making a prior purchase at a specific site, 37 percent; bargain prices, 36 percent.
However, e-commerce players have to deliver, and if they cannot, especially during this season, when expectations ride so high, it will probably be tough for them to get many customers to return.
On Friday, wal-mart.com posted the following note to its visitors: “Online shoppers: We are working hard to process your holiday orders. If you are placing an order with us today, we cannot guarantee your items will be delivered by Dec. 25th.
“We appreciate your patience and continued support, and apologize for any inconvenience,” the message continued. “We are attempting to identify the areas where the problems are appearing, how broad-based the problems are or if heavy order flow is the culprit.”
A team of C.S. First Boston analysts, who shopped 60 Web sites on Black Friday, found the purchase-transaction time to be the longest at wal-mart.com, as reported. It took 48 minutes for them to purchase Pokemon software, for example, and they were unable to buy a coffeemaker after attempting to do so for an hour.
Wal-Mart blamed heavy traffic for the slowdown, and pointed out its plans to relaunch the site in January.
A holiday survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, released Friday, suggests that consumers will complete their holiday shopping sooner, rather than later, this year.
According to the poll, conducted for NRF by Market Facts Inc., 53.5 percent of those surveyed plan to complete most of their shopping by Dec. 15, while nearly 37 percent indicated they would do most of their shopping between Dec. 15 and 24.