Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Three out of 10 Americans do most holiday shopping online

Harris poll shows many U.S. buyers are checking off their shopping lists online

As shoppers eagerly take advantage of Cyber Monday deals, a new poll shows that nearly three out of 10 Americans will do most of their holiday shopping online this year.

According to a Harris poll of 2,499 American adults in early November, 28% said they expect to do most of their holiday buying without stepping foot into a brick-and-mortar store.

That is a great sign for retailers who are increasingly turning to online sales to reach consumers, said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group.

"Online retail has reached the tipping point," Olds said. "There's a tipping point from the point when your first option is a local store ... to when online does a better job on price and selection ... Then online becomes the default and local becomes the back up."

Three out of 10 Americans doing their shopping online is a solid number, according to Olds. "Although to some perpetually wired folks, three out of 10 may sound on the low side, they need to keep in mind that this poll takes in the entire American population, including a vast number of people who don't typically interact with computers on a daily basis," he noted. "I'd say 30% of the total American population is a good healthy number for online retailers to compete for. This is not a breakout year for online spending, because it broke out years ago ... but it shows good, steady growth."

At least one online tracker, comScore, is predicting that Cyber Monday online sales will be record breaking.

After Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, saw a 26% increase in spending compared to the same day in 2010, analysts at comScore said they expect that Cyber Monday, which is the first work day after Thanksgiving, will top the charts.

ComScore also noted that the large online retailers are hitting it big. Amazon.com was the top online retailer on Black Friday, according to comScore, followed by Wal-Mart, BestBuy, Target and Apple respectively.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com .

Read more about e-business in Computerworld's E-business Topic Center.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Amazon, Amazon.com, Apple, Topic, Wal-Mart
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: applications, e-business, e-commerce, internet, Mobile and Wireless, networking, software
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Oracle SOA Suite – Oracle BPEL Process Manager
    Changing markets, increasing competitive pressures and evolving customer needs are placing greater pressure on IT to deliver greater flexibility and speed. In response to these challenges, leading companies are adopting Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) as a means of delivering on these requirements by overcoming the complexity of their application and IT environments. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Endpoint Buyers Guide
    It takes more than antivirus to stop today’s advanced threats. Protecting corporate assets requires a complete security solution that includes anti-malware, host-based intrusion prevention (HIPS), web protection, patch assessment, application and device control, network access control, data loss prevention, firewall and other capabilities. In short, you need an endpoint protection solution. We examine the top vendors according to market share and industry analysis: Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Sophos, Symantec and Trend Micro. Each vendor’s solutions are evaluated according to: Product features and capabilities, Effectiveness, Performance, Usability, Data protection, and Technical support.
    Learn more »
  • Miercom Report - Plug and Play Switches
    Avaya engaged Miercom to evaluate the plug and play features and ease of configuration of the ERS 4548GT- PWR Edge Switch. The energy efficiency of the ERS was compared to similar switches and is discussed in this report as well. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.