December 21, 2007
Online shopping is getting a thumbs-up from holiday shoppers this year.
A large majority of online shoppers, 82 percent, are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the customer support available during their online Christmas shopping experience this year, according to Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company.
Among the 46 percent of respondents who had posted or planned to post reviews about their online shopping experience, 88 percent said those reviews either were, or would be positive.
This high level of satisfaction resulted in nearly half of online shoppers, 46 percent, doing the majority of their holiday shopping online so far this year.
"The holiday season has always been important to retailers because it generates a material percentage of the year's sales," said Ken Cassar, vice president, industry solutions analytics, Nielsen Online. "But the season also sets the stage for the upcoming year.
"Negative customer experiences can hamper growth significantly, especially in this age of Consumer-Generated media," he noted. "Online retailers should be thrilled that, regardless of whether or not sales meet expectations, this holiday season will provide a solid foundation for 2008 from a customer service perspective."
A number of online shopping destinations clearly impressed shoppers, and the top 10 ranked by customer satisfaction earned "Very Satisfied" ratings from more than 80 percent of respondents.
The top sites are --in order of satisfaction: Netflix.com, NexTag.com, Amazon.com, Shopping.Yahoo.com, Kohls.com, Barnesandnoble.com, HomeDepot.com, Circuitcity.com, eBay.com and JCPenney.com.
Procrastinators' picks
Among late-season shoppers, flowers, gift baskets, event tickets, and gift cards are among the most popular, with the largest percentage of shoppers still intending to buy from these categories compared to purchases already made.
Procrastinators can rest assured that gift cards are a welcome gift - 62 percent of respondents said they would prefer a gift card to a pre-selected gift.
Traditionally popular gift categories have done well again this year, led by clothing, books and movies. The top categories: clothes/shoes/accessories, books, movies (DVDs/video tapes) (digital,CDs,tapes) and toys/non-electronic games
Among those who have purchased a game console, Nintendo's Wii has been the most popular this holiday season, followed by the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS.
