Heather Dougherty Holiday Quotations

We remain enthusiastic about the start of this holiday season, as several categories saw substantial revenue increases. The growth in 2004 holiday revenue suggests that consumers are shifting more dollars to the Internet this season.

Now that the 2005 holiday shopping season is underway, traffic to retail sites will climb as shoppers head back to work on Monday ready to make headway on their holiday shopping lists, ... Cyber Monday will bring additional growth in traffic for online retailers by luring shoppers to their sites through sales promotions and free shipping incentives.

Like their offline counterparts, online shoppers have favorite retailers that they frequently visit. They are very familiar with the retailer's brand name and tend to go directly to their sites. However, some gifts may involve more research, in which case search engines and shopping comparison sites come into play. Most shoppers use a variety of channels to get their holiday shopping done.

The 2005 holiday season was a gadget year for consumers of all ages, and consumers continued to show their love for free shipping.

Cyber Monday brought a surge of traffic to many online retailers as shoppers returned to work following the holiday weekend ready to tackle their holiday gift lists.

Apparel remains one of the more dominant product categories during the holiday season, mirroring offline holiday retail behavior.

Consumers have spent the weekend with their family and they've been in the stores. They now have a holiday list going. And today is the first day that people are back at work in front of their computers,

It's something that consumers expect. You can easily compare prices and find the best prices online and make the holiday budget stretch a little bit further.

E-commerce is gaining ground amongst consumers during the holiday season due to its convenience, product selection and lower prices.

In recent years, consumers shop online later and later in the holiday season making the week prior to the holidays the peak in online holiday shopping, with over half of shoppers completing all of their purchases. With guaranteed delivery by December 24th and additional discounts and incentives, online retailers continue to court shoppers until late in the season, looking to capture sales before shoppers turn to stores on Friday and Saturday for last minute purchases.

In recent years, consumers shop online later and later in the holiday season, making the week prior to the holidays the peak in online holiday shopping, with over half of shoppers completing all of their purchases. With guaranteed delivery by Dec. 24 and additional discounts and incentives, online retailers continue to court shoppers until late in the season.

The consistently high level of satisfaction each year increases the future expectations for online sales. More consumers are taking advantage of the benefits of e-commerce to avoid holiday crowds and purchase competitively priced gifts. Many of the free shipping promotions help level the playing field among the sales channels, which elevates satisfaction amongst online shoppers.