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One in Three to Shop More Online This Holiday Season

One-third of US shoppers plan to do more shopping online this holiday season than they did last year, according to a survey on consumer holiday online shopping. The study was sponsored by buySAFE and conducted by Vizu.

Some 35% of shoppers also said they are more likely to shop online this holiday season compared with their normal retail patterns.

Among the study’s findings:

• Merchant performance remains the most important factor to online shoppers when making an online purchase - even more important than price: 48% cite merchant performance as the most important factor followed by price (38%), amount of selection (9%), and ease of transaction (6%).

• 66% said they would be more willing to buy online if every purchase was guaranteed.
• Nearly 65% of shoppers said they would feel more comfortable if a merchant were bonded.
• One half of respondents have experienced at least one serious problem when buying online (e.g., item never arrived or wrong item arrive): nearly one-third of those have had at least three or more problems with online purchases.

“This survey confirms that merchant trust continues to be the leading factor in a shopper’s decision about which merchants to buy from, particularly when multiple sites sell the same product at the same price,” said buySAFE CEO Jeff Grass.

Other findings from the holiday shopping survey:

• 73% or respondents said lower shipping costs would cause them to spend more online this holiday season.
• 46% of respondents said they’d rather shop online this holiday season than face the hassle of malls or pay the high cost of gas.
• 34% said procrastination (e.g., buying items at the last minute) is the reason they would shop offline this holiday season.

About the study: The polling of over 2,000 online shoppers was conducted via the Vizu Answers online market research network between November 5 and November 13, 2007.