To get a quick take on some consumers' actual online shopping activities this past holiday season, ConsumerReports.org polled about 8,600 site visitors from Dec. 26, 2001 to Jan. 2, 2002.
The
informal poll found that 93% of respondents who had done some of their holiday shopping online were either "Very Satisfied" (51%) or "Fairly Well Satisfied" (42%) with their online holiday shopping
experience.
Among all respondents, about 35% indicated that they did none of their holiday gift shopping online. Another 21% said that they did 1 to 9% of their holiday gift shopping online,
19% said they did 10 to 24% online, 12% said they did 25 to 49% online, and 13% indicated that they did 50% or more of their holiday shopping online.
Of those respondents who indicated that
they bought some holiday gifts online, the most frequently cited problems experienced, if any, were: high shipping costs (53%), desired items were no longer available (28%), and gifts were not
delivered on time (25%).
Less frequently cited problems include: items were not the same as expected from pictures/descriptions (8%), items were never received (6%), wrong item(s), size or
color were sent (5%), and incorrect billing (3%). (Respondents were able to select more than one option in responding to this question.)
Overall, respondents were about evenly split in terms of
matching their own gift-spending expectations this holiday season. 47% of respondents said that they spent "about the same" as they expected to on their holiday shopping, 29% said that they spent less
than they expected, and 24% said they spent more than they expected.
The ConsumerReports.org Online Post-Holiday Shopping Poll was collected via a pop-up, four-question survey presented to one
in eight visitors to popular ConsumerReports.org pages from December 26, 2001 through January 2, 2002. Results are based on data collected from 8,604 respondents.