• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, November 11, 2001

A new weekly national survey of online shoppers from Harris Interactive's multimillion-member panel of Internet users tracks online shopping activity and spending by market segment, as well as consumer attitudes and motivations that drive online shopping. Findings from the new study revealed that 63% of shoppers surveyed in the past week relied on brand awareness as the leading factor in purchasing online.

Initial findings from the survey showed that 69% of Internet users have not begun shopping for the holidays, indicating that the official start of the ecommerce holiday season has yet to commence. Among respondents who have started their holiday shopping in the past week, though:
- 63& shopped at a site based on prior experience
- almost 25% said they shopped at a site based on its traditional retail store presence
- 28% of those surveyed shopped at a site they found through a portal or search engine.
- 5% said that the recent terrorist incidents would force them to shop more online.

"Despite the events of September 11th and national security issues, very few consumers stated that they are more likely to shop online than visit a physical retail store," added Iventosch-James.

Source: Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings.

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