• by January 8, 2001

Nine out of every ten online shoppers said they were satisfied with their overall online holiday shopping experiences, according to the latest NPD e-Visory report to be released later this month. Among the Internet users who purchased online during the November - December holiday period, 57% reported being very or extremely satisfied.

Satisfaction Among Holiday Shoppers

Very or extremely satisfied 57%

Somewhat satisfied 35%

Not too or at all satisfied 8%

During the Holiday 2000 period, the online retail channel generated nearly twice the revenues seen in Holiday 1999. Sixty-eight percent of online shoppers said they will make an online purchase during the first quarter of the New Year, with 40% reporting they will buy within the month of January 2001.

Even though most online shoppers were satisfied, nearly two-thirds (63%) did encounter some difficulties.

The problems seem to be much less than last year and clearly did not impact their overall satisfaction. Thirty-seven percent reported no difficulties at all.

Percent Of Online Shoppers Having Difficulty:

No difficulties 37%

Out of stock items 31%

Site temporarily down 23%

Couldn't find item 21%

Received item late 14%

Didn't receive item 6%

Poor customer service 6%

Site out of business 5%

"People seem to be learning the nuances of online shopping," says Pamela Smith, vice president of NPD Online. "Since they did their online holiday shopping earlier this year, issues like 'out of stock items' or 'site temporarily down,' while annoying, did not affect their satisfaction. Satisfied customers, double the revenue, fewer difficulties, high expectations for future online buyingwe see 2000 as a very good year after all," she said.

Amazon.com reigned as the most popular site for online holiday purchasing. Somewhat surprisingly, ebay.com played a very important role this holiday season, reported by respondents as the second most important site for holiday spending followed by barnesandnoble.com, jcpenney.com, and eToys.com. A variety of products were purchased on the Web with the book category on top as usual.

Top Five Most Popular Categories Purchased Online

Books

Apparel

Music

Toys

Movies/Videos/DVD's

This year the online holiday buyer looks even more like the mainstream U.S. buyer than ever before. A little more than half of this year's online holiday purchasers were female; slightly more than a third were over 45 years of age, and half had incomes under $60,000.

Despite all of the good news, shipping fees were cited as a major feature that held back online purchasing. Thirty-four percent of all Internet users reported "lower or no shipping fees" as the top feature that, if improved, would make them buy more online as opposed to at traditional stores. Even among those who did buy during the holiday season, shipping fees emerged as the feature th