Nov 20, 2007

”Invisible” Costs of Offline Shopping Spur Increase in Online Holiday SpendingBy TradingMarkets.com

Los Angeles, Nov 20, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — SSP | charts | news | PowerRating — Although offline retail sales are expected to be soft this holiday season online retailers are anticipating a merry season as consumers shift their holiday spending to the Web. What is driving this shift? In addition to tighter budgets due to economic factors such as housing worries and a consumer credit crunch, a new holiday survey conducted by leading shopping search site Shopzilla (www.shopzilla.com), reveals consumers are feeling the effect of the “invisible” costs of shopping — items such as eating out, gas and gift wrapping — which people don’t always factor into their budgets.

In addition, the Shopzilla survey showed that East Coasters feel the pinch of invisible costs more than West Coasters, with Southerners being the most affected.

Nationally respondents cite time and convenience as the key drivers influencing their decision to shop online rather than visiting traditional brick-and-mortar retailers this year. In fact, a whopping 87% feel that they can find holiday gift items more easily online than in a store and 46% of online shoppers say they feel they could reclaim those 5.5 hours normally spent per mall trip, to instead spend more time with their families this season.

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