Top Five Categories for Holiday Season Spending Online Though holiday performance reporting is ubiquitous, here's a quick breakdown of major categories and satisfactions on the Web
this season. According to the eSpending Report from Goldman, Sachs & Co., Harris Interactive, and Nielsen//NetRatings online holiday shoppers spent a record $18.5 billion excluding travel during the
2003 holiday season. This represents an increase of 35 percent over the $13.7 billion spent in 2002.
The eSpending Report found that the product categories for apparel, toys/video games
(hardware and software), consumer electronics, computer hardware and peripherals and video/DVD, generated the most revenue this season.
Popular Online Shopping Categories through December 26,
2003
| | Holiday Projected Year Over Year Online Revenue (mm$) | Growth |
| Apparel/Clothing | $3,738 | 40% |
| Toys/Video games
| $2,197 | 33% |
| Consumer Electronics | $2,044 | 2% |
| Computer Hardware/Peripherals | $1,650 |
| Video/DVD | $1,619 | 46% |
Source: Goldman
Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings eSpending Report, December 2003
"Online retailers have enjoyed a fantastic season in 2003," said Abha Bhagat, senior analyst
Nielsen//NetRatings. "This is the third straight season of record growth, which indicates retailers are doing a much better job of appealing to customers through online channels as well as
successfully integrating various channels to reach out to customers effectively."
The final weekly eSpending report showed that shoppers were more satisfied with their online shopping
experience.
Overall Online Customer Satisfaction
| 2002
| 2003 | Change |
| Satisfied | 63.1% | 59% | +4.1 |
| Dissatisfied | 7.4% | 8% |
-0.6 |
Source: Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings
Shoppers also reported very few serious problems when ordering online and spent more of their
total shopping budget online this season.
Serious Problems Reported by Shoppers
| Problem
| Percentage of Respondents Reporting |
| Order not received when promised | 2.4% |
| Received incorrect or defective product | 1.2% |
| Total percentage of online shoppers experiencing serious problems | 3.6% |
Source: Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings
Overall Online Customer Spending
| 2002 | 2003 | 2002 to 2003 Change |
| Percentage
of Holiday Budget Expected to be Spent Online | 16.3% | 19.7% | +3.4 |
Source: Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and
Nielsen//NetRatings
"As more people turn to the Internet to do their holiday shopping, they are finding the online shopping experience to be a positive one." said Lori Iventosch-James,
director of ecommerce research, Harris Interactive.