Cash registers expected to ring online
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The conventional wisdom is that consumers will be spending less this holiday season, but that apparently doesn’t apply to online shopping. According to the Consumer Internet Barometer, a quarterly report produced by the Conference Board, online shoppers plan to spend a smidge more this year than last year at this time — but only if retailers woo them with cut-rate prices and free shipping.
For example, the study found that Internet-equipped households planning to spend $100 to $499 at brick-and-mortar stores this season slipped to 57% from 61% last year. But the percentage of those same households willing to spend that much online rose a tad, to 36% from 35%.
‘Free shipping, exclusive online deals, coupons and discounts are among the incentives consumers will be expecting this season,’ said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.
The Purdue Retail Institute is forecasting as much as $40 billion in online sales this season, up about 10% from last year. ‘Internet shopping will be the only winner this year,’ said Richard Feinberg, a researcher at the institute. He predicts that more than half of online retailers will offer free shipping, and about three-fourths will try to entice e-shoppers with special deals.
Cyber Monday — the Monday after Thanksgiving — is when many online merchants unveil their holiday come-ons. A good rule of thumb: If you paid for shipping this year, you paid too much.
-- David Lazarus
oupons.com, shows off some coupons available online at her home in Mankato, Minn. Online coupons tend to have a higher value than those you find in the newspaper, she says.
