With home prices down and gas prices up, holiday shopping is a question mark. But the outlook for online gifts is bright.
Cyber Monday the unofficial start of the online holiday shopping season, or the Internet equivalent of the Friday after Thanksgiving promises to deliver big numbers for e-commerce sites in Los Angeles and elsewhere, according to projections, with bargains and added savings for early buyers.
“Historically, it has been the biggest shopping day of the year online,” said Michelle Kane, spokeswoman for PriceGrabber.com, the L.A.-based comparison shopping site, referring to the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend. “People are back at work and they take advantage of their Internet connection.”
Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, the Washington D.C.-based online branch of the National Retail Federation, said research shows an online shopping surge during lunch hour on Cyber Monday. This year, he expects more Web sites will offer sales or specials on that day. His organization even has a site CyberMonday.com that compiles these promotions.
Meanwhile, David Towers, managing director for the L.A. office of online agency Avenue A Razorfish, downplays Cyber Monday.
“It isn’t that important in consumers’ minds,” he said. By comparison, the Friday after Thanksgiving has become a family and communal tradition. “People love to get in the car and make it a shopping holiday. Cyber Monday isn’t like that.”
Delivery concerns
Kane and Towers agree that the online shopping season starts and ends sooner than its brick-and-mortar counterpart. Towers sets the beginning by mid-November and the end about Dec. 14. After that, consumers get nervous about on-time delivery of their gifts, he said.
Forrester Research predicts a 21 percent increase during the fourth quarter for online sales in the U.S. market. A survey of Web sites by Shop.org found that most expect sales gains of more than 30 percent this season. Silverman noted that in-store retail sales are forecast to increase only 4 percent this year due to consumers’ economic concerns.
Towers advises online merchants to first make sure their sites have the technical capacity to handle traffic increases. Second, for those with both a Web and a store presence, consistency should become a top priority.
“Consumers see it as shopping with one brand, regardless of the channel,” Towers said. “If they go online, they expect to see the same prices and products as in the stores.”
A recent PriceGrabber study found that “convenience” and “saving” top the list of reasons for shopping online, and Silverman expects e-tailers to offer plenty of both to L.A. shoppers.
“You’ll find good deals, especially on Cyber Monday,” he said.
