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Nielsen Online Retail News and Analysis
Throughout the holiday season, Nielsen Online will deliver online audience data for top online shopping destinations, consumer insights through analysis of online discussions and survey data
Pre-Holiday Survey: Holiday Shoppers Continue to Shift Purchases Online
Top Ten Reasons to Shop Online
We recently fielded a survey from November 6-11 among approximately 1,300 online shoppers who did online holiday shopping last year and/or plan to do so this year. The survey revealed that consumers will continue to shift their purchases online for convenience, time saving and competitive pricing this holiday season.
With the current economic downturn, there is an increased focus on price this year, with 53 percent of respondents citing price as a reason to buy online, compared with 46 percent last year. Interestingly, though, consumers continue to trump convenience more than price as the primary value of the channel, with 76 percent of respondents citing the ability to shop 24 hours a day and 74 percent citing time saving for why they shop online (see Table 1).
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Table 1: Top 10 Reasons to Shop Online (U.S.) |
Reason |
Percent of Respondents |
1. Able to shop 24 hours a day |
76 |
2. Saves time |
74 |
3. Avoiding crowds |
65 |
4. Saves gas |
59 |
5. Sales/Discounts/Promotions |
55 |
6. Low prices |
53 |
7. Comparison shopping |
48 |
8. Selection |
40 |
9. Available product information |
37 |
10. Items are in stock |
37 |
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Source: Nielsen Online, Pre-holiday Survey, November 2008
Good News for Online Retailers
While holiday budgets will most likely not be growing this year, more consumers will be shifting their limited spending to the Web. Respondents in the survey said they would spend an increased percent of their holiday shopping budget online, an average of 41 percent compared to 39 percent last year.
To read more about the pre-holiday survey, click here.
Black Friday: The Holiday Shopping Season Off to a Good Start
Top Ten Online Retailers on Black Friday
Even with the weakening economy, an unstable stock market and a rising unemployment rate, Black Friday traffic to online retail sites grew at a double digit rate this year. Consumers are continuing to shift their holiday shopping to the Web for the convenience of not having to fight the crowds and to further stretch shrinking budgets.
Web traffic from home and work to the Holiday eShopping Index increased 10 percent year over year on Black Friday, growing from 28.8 million unique visitors in 2007 to 31.7 million unique visitors in 2008 across more than 120 representative online retailers.
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Table 2: Top 10 Online Retailers Ranked by Unique Audience on Black Friday 2008, and Compared to Black Friday 2007 (U.S., Home and Work) |
Site |
11/23/2007 UA (000) |
11/28/2008 UA (000) |
Percent Growth |
1. eBay
| 10,837
| 9,871
| -9%
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2. Amazon
| 6,932
| 8,448
| 22%
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3. Wal-Mart Stores
| 4,509
| 6,029
| 34%
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4. Target
| 4,071
| 4,196
| 3%
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5. Best Buy
| 3,125
| 3,709
| 19%
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6. Circuit City
| 2,563
| 2,889
| 13%
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7. Dell
| 1,965
| 1,926
| -2%
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8. Sears
| 1,551
| 1,639
| 6%
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9. Kohl's
| 999
| 1,601
| 60%
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10. JCPenney
| 1,652
| 1,518
| -8%
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Source: Nielsen Online, NetView Custom Analysis
Not surprisingly, consumers were doing a lot of comparison shopping on Black Friday, indicated by the 83 percent Friday over Friday increase in unique visitors to the Shopping Comparison/Portals category.
Click here to read more.
Cyber Monday: Aggressive Holiday Sales and Incentives Drive Consumers Online
Top 10 Retailers on Cyber Monday
The growth in traffic to online retail sites on Cyber Monday was better than many people expected, making retailers hopeful that this growth will carry through the holiday shopping season and drive sales. As people headed back to work after the holiday weekend, Web traffic from home and work to the Holiday eShopping Index increased 10 percent year over year on Cyber Monday. Unique visitors to the sites included in the Index reached 35.9 million, a 13 percent increase over this year’s Black Friday Web traffic of 31.7 million.
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| Table 3: Cyber Monday Top 10 Online Retail Destinations Ranked by Unique Audience on Cyber Monday 2008, and Compared to Cyber Monday 2007 (U.S., Home and Work) |
Site |
11/26/2007 UA (000) |
12/01/2008 UA (000) |
Percent Growth |
1. eBay |
10,799
| 10,564
| -2%
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2. Amazon |
7,225
| 8,998
| 25%
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3. Wal-Mart Stores |
5,165
| 5,189
| 0%
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4. Target |
3,393
| 3,646
| 7%
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5. Best Buy |
2,363
| 3,558
| 51%
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6. Sears |
1,698
| 2,680
| 58%
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7. Dell |
2,673
| 2,369
| -11%
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8. Overstock.com |
2,154
| 2,070
| -4%
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9. Netflix |
1,442
| 2,046
| 42%
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10. ToysRUs |
1,386
| 1,652
| 19%
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Source: Nielsen Online, NetView Custom Analysis
To read more click here.
Holiday Shopping Trends
Holiday Buzz: TVs Most Buzzed About Gift Ideas
Among selected gift ideas, TV-related terms dominated buzz this holiday season, with 52.5 percent of gift-related messages, followed by DVDs, with a 24.4 percent share and toys with 11.3 percent.
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| Table 4: Share of Gift-Related Buzz (among selected topics) |
Gift |
Percent of Buzz |
TV |
52.5
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DVD |
24.4
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Toys |
11.3
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Laptop |
8.4
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GPS |
3.4
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Source: Nielsen Online, BuzzMetrics
Based on messages posted to all blogs between November 1 and December 9, 2008. Percentages are based on total number of messages mentioning at least one of the above gifts.
Holiday Survey: Online Reviews are an Important Part of the Holiday Buying Process
In an online survey fielded from December 8-15 among approximately 1,000 online shoppers in the U.S., Nielsen Online learned that 81 percent of online shoppers have read product or retailer reviews by other customers when doing their holiday shopping this year. Customer reviews are an important research tool for online consumers, with 71 percent agreeing that consumer reviews make them more comfortable that they are buying the right product.
Despite the weakening economy, 24 percent of online shoppers have spent more than $500 so far this holiday season, with 22 percent spending between $100-199 online.
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Table 5: Money Already Spent Online this Holiday Season
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Account |
% of Respondents |
Less than $100 |
18 |
$100-199 |
22 |
$200-299 |
17 |
$300-399 |
13 |
$400-499 |
5 |
More than $500 |
24 |
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Source: Nielsen Online Holiday Survey, December 2008
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