Half of Consumers Have Made Holiday Purchases, E-commerce Growth is Strong

According to Google ThinkHoliday, nearly half of consumers have already made holiday purchases as of Oct. 5, with half of consumers researching/shopping early to get ahead of the rush.

As of Oct. 5, 71 percent of consumers had started researching/shopping for the holiday season, with 49 percent saying they already made purchases. Meanwhile, 77 percent said they had yet to complete their holiday shopping.

For those that already started their shopping/researching, 50 percent said they wanted to t get ahead of the rush, while 48 percent said they like to shop early, 43 percent said they believe they can get better prices if they start early, 38 percent said they want to make sure they get the gift(s) they want and 32 percent said there are more deals/sales/promotions this year.

Searches for “Black Friday” are starting earlier and earlier, according to Google. The company shows that searches for “Black Friday” began in the week of Sept. 9-15 in 2007, Sept.7-13 in 2008, Aug. 2-8 in 2009, and the week of July 18-24 in 2010.

The data from Google also shows that 89 percent of shoppers will take advantage of price discounts or sales, 75 percent will jump on free shipping, 68 percent will make use of purchase incentives, 67 percent will use coupons, 56 percent will take advantage of rebates and 49 percent will use gift sets or complementary items.

E-commerce sales are growing at a faster pace than in-store retail sales. In the third quarter, e-commerce sales grew 9 percent quarter-over-quarter, outpacing the 1 percent growth for in-store retail sales.

The Internet is going to play an essential role in all steps of the holiday shopping cycle, according to Google. The ThinkHoliday data shows that 42 percent of shoppers will research online and then make a purchase online. Meanwhile, 51 percent said they will research online and make a purchase in a store. Thirty-two percent will research online, visit a store then buy online. Also, 16 percent of shoppers said they will visit a store than make a purchase online.

For the past five years, early weekdays have shown to be the biggest days for online retail sales in December, with Tuesday showing particularly active sales.

“Green Tuesday,” or Dec. 14, is the No. 1 online sales day in November and December, followed by Dec. 7, Dec. 15, Dec. 16, and Dec. 1.

The data also shows that 64 percent of shoppers plan to take advantage of post-holiday sales.

Mobile phones will also play an important role in this year’s holiday shopping season, as 52 percent of shoppers plan on using their smartphones to compare prices; 40 percent plan to use them to read reviews; 38 percent plan to use them to look for promotions or coupons; 37 percent plan to use them to find retailers they’re interested in purchasing from; 34 percent plan to use them to search a store’s inventory or the availability of an item; and 23 percent plan to use their smartphones to purchase an item.

The majority of smartphone users are likely to use apps this holiday – 22 percent are extremely likely, 26 percent are very likely and 30 percent are somewhat likely.

Google also shares that “ipod touch 4g,” “ipod nano 5th” and “apple tv” are among the rising product searches in the consumer electronics and accessories category.

“Archos 101,” “android tablet” and “macbook pro battery” are among the rising searches in the computers and accessories category.

“Samsung fascinate,” “iphone 4 white” and “boost mobile” are among the rising searches in the mobile phones and accessories category.

Lace trim, jeggings and ankle boots are the newest fashion of note, according to Google.

To conclude, Google offers these three tips: 1) start holiday messaging now, 2) listen and be nimble, and 3) reach the connected shopper.

Sources:</strong

http://www.google.com/thinkholiday/

http://googleretail.blogspot.com/2010/10/consumer-intentions-for-holiday-2010.html