- Canadian shoppers say they’ll spend $1.1 billion online, according to Ipsos-Reid. But taking into account error margins in previous years, the company says that number may reach $1.4 billion – 21 per cent more than last year.
- In
the U.S., Jupiter Research is predicting online sales of $13.1 billion (US), a 17 per cent increase over 2001.
- In Canada, 23 per cent of Internet users plan make an online gift purchase, according to Ipsos-Reid. Polling by the company in the U.S. suggests that number is 32 per cent south of the border.
- In the U.S., the holiday shopping season – defined as from the Thanksgiving holiday to the week before Christmas – is only 17 days this year. This will cause a loss of online sales to brick-and-mortar retailers, says Jupiter senior analyst Ken Cassar – online shoppers tend to buy well in advance.
- How far in advance? According to Jupiter’s research, 79 per cent of online shoppers buy more than four weeks in advance.
- Ipsos-Reid vice-president Chris Ferneyhough says that outside the traditional e-tail categories – electronics, books, CDs, toys and the like – there will be some “dabbling” in categories like jewelry and apparel. But the numbers aren’t big. “The percentages aren’t big enough to say it’s a significant change. That’s why we call it ‘dabbling,’” says Ferneyhough, who declined to attach hard numbers to the increase.
Comment: info@itbusiness.ca