Consumers Benefit From A Frenzy Of Around-The-Clock Online Shopping
All signals point to consumers being in the driver seat this holiday season. Web-based promotions over Thanksgiving week offered anywhere from 30 to 70 percent off products and included free shipping as well. What’s different this year is how early the season started, and the intensity of promotional activity fueled by social marketing.
A survey, conducted in early November by Harris Interactive(R) on behalf of GSI, concluded that convenience would be a key factor in driving people to shop online. Among respondents (U.S. adults, ages 18+ who plan to shop online this holiday season), 61 percent selected “avoiding crowds and lines” and 58 percent chose “being able to shop after-hours, when traditional offline stores are closed” as the top reasons for shopping online.
“Online retailers pulled out all the stops, with virtually every one of our clients offering ballistic Cyber-Monday sales, signifying how important the online shopping channel has become to so many Americans,” said Dias. “Even ‘Cyber Monday’ has changed this year. Online sales, historically only offered on Cyber Monday, started one day earlier and are rapidly being extended into ‘Cyber-week’ promotions. GSI is able to spread the word quickly about these new and expanded offers to a very large network of consumers.”
Tags: adults ages, crowds, driver seat, early november, frenzy, harris interactive, holiday season, intensity, offline stores, online shopping, promotional activity, promotions, respondents, season web, shopping channel, signals, social marketing, thanksgiving