U.S. Online Holiday Shoppers Spent $6.2 Billion in 2000
STAMFORD, CT–According to a just completed survey of consumers by Gartner Group, Inc., 24.5
million Americans bought holiday gifts online this past season, totaling nearly $6.2 billion.
Gartner also estimates that $2.6 billion in online sales were lost from consumers who bought
holiday gifts online in 1999 but failed to come back to the Web for this year’s gift buying.
Just less than half of online holiday purchasers, or 11 million, bought holiday gifts online
in 1999. This year, almost as many consumers who bought holiday gifts online in 1999, stayed
away from the Internet for this year’s gift buying. According to Gartner estimates, if these
consumers had bought on the Web this past season, online retailers would have seen another
$2.6 billion in spending, an increase of 43% of the actual online holiday gift sales.
“Loss of repeat customers clearly points to the CRM and customer service issues faced last
year by retail Web sites,” said David Schehr, a research director at Gartner. “This level of
churn from one season to the next shows the opportunities as well as the risks for retailers.
Overall, three-quarters of these online gift buyers were very satisfied with their gift-buying
experience online; so most should be back next year. But retailers can’t rest on their laurels
if they plan on growing their e-commerce activities. At most, they have 341 days to fortify
their systems and get it right for the 2001 shopping season.”
Gartner says additional findings will be released later this week.