Europeans Took Holiday Shopping Online
Nearly 5.5 million British adults made online purchases over the Internet in the four weeks leading up to Christmas, a 12 percent increase from the 2000 holiday season, according to NOP.
Nearly 5.5 million British adults made online purchases over the Internet in the four weeks leading up to Christmas, a 12 percent increase from the 2000 holiday season, according to NOP.
NOP’s Internet User Profile survey found that half of the gifts bought by the 5.4 million shoppers were gifts.
The best news for British online retailers is that customer satisfaction levels with online holiday purchases reached 92 percent. Of those filling their online shopping baskets in December, thee out of four claim they will definitely shop online again in the future, compared to less than two-thirds during the same period in 2000.
“After all the bad press that resulted from the dot-com bubble burst, the survey brings good news to the industry,” said Simon Cheshire, associate director at NOP World. “More users are embracing the Internet as a shopping channel, and their positive experiences with the medium will drive repeat business. This will help other online retailers to follow the likes of Amazon and move into profitability. Online retailers are also starting to get their customer relationship management strategies right. NOP data shows that 73 percent of those who emailed a company to make a complaint were satisfied with the response received, which is a step in the right direction.”
NOP screened a nationally representative sample of 30,000 adults age 15 and older in Britain for Internet usage in November 2001 and carried out 1,600 interviews with Internet users in December 2001.
According to Jupiter MMXI, almost 33 million Europeans used the Internet to make their Christmas shopping easier in December 2001.
Germans (at 10 million unique visitors) and Britons (9 million unique visitors) were the heaviest users of online retail sites from home in December 2001. Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr reached more than 10 percent of the Internet population in Germany, Britain and France. France is the only country where three sites (Fnac.com, Alapage.com and Amazon.fr) have more than 10 percent reach. In Britain, traditional high street retailers, such as Argos.co.uk, Comet.co.uk and Whsmith.co.uk were very popular for Christmas shopping.
“Online retailers experienced a real growth in the usage of the sites in the run up to Christmas, which shows just how Europeans have come to accept the Internet as part of their lives,” said Patricia Lueer, Jupiter MMXI analyst. “Online retailers report a successful Christmas period, which Jupiter MMXI has projected would be worth €2.9 billion in Europe, an increase of 71 percent from 2000. The challenge for retailers is to keep customers loyal by staying in touch with them and convincing them to keep using their sites. Retailers cannot afford to rest on the success of Christmas.”
