(Yonkers, NY; Jan. 3, 2002;
PRNewswire) To get a quick take on some consumers'
actual online shopping activities this past holiday
season, ConsumerReports.org polled about 8,600 site
visitors from Dec. 26, 2001 to Jan. 2, 2002. The informal
poll found that 93% of respondents who had done some of
their holiday shopping online were either ``Very
Satisfied'' (51%) or ``Fairly Well Satisfied'' (42%) with
their online holiday shopping experience.
Among all respondents, about 35%
indicated that they did none of their holiday gift
shopping online. Another 21% said that they did 1 to 9%
of their holiday gift shopping online, 19% said they did
10 to 24% online, 12% said they did 25 to 49% online, and
13% indicated that they did 50% or more of their holiday
shopping online.
Of those respondents who indicated
that they bought some holiday gifts online, the most
frequently cited problems experienced, if any, were: high
shipping costs (53%), desired items were no longer
available (28%), and gifts were not delivered on time
(25%). Less-frequently cited problems include: items were
not the same as expected from pictures/descriptions (8%),
items were never received (6%), wrong item(s), size or
color were sent (5%), and incorrect billing (3%).
(Respondents were able to select more than one option in
responding to this question.)
Overall, respondents were about evenly
split in terms of matching their own gift-spending
expectations this holiday season. 47% of respondents said
that they spent ``about the same'' as they expected to on
their holiday shopping, 29% said that they spent less
than they expected, and 24% said they spent more than
they expected.
The ConsumerReports.org Online
Post-Holiday Shopping Poll was collected via a pop-up,
four-question survey presented to one in eight visitors
to popular ConsumerReports.org pages from December 26,
2001 through January 2, 2002. Results are based on data
collected from 8,604 respondents.
It should be noted that this sample is
not necessarily representative of overall visitors or
subscribers to ConsumerReports.org, and that these
respondents may not be representative of US households
overall. ConsumerReports.org subscribers in aggregate
tend to be more educated and more affluent than average
US households.
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