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Ready, Set, Shop!

Overall, online holiday shopping is expected to be big this year. How big? Forrester Research is predicting that Americans will click on "buy" to the tune of $18 billion between Thursday and Christmas. That would constitute a 25% increase over last year's online sales, which were also pretty darn good, fueled in part by free shipping, better response times and improved reliability.

From the looks of things, it should be an even better year for online coffers, and for deal-hunting, information-hungry consumers as well.

As noted by a self-serving AOL survey touting the obvious, sky-high gasoline prices have cost-conscious consumers carefully planning their road trips. For example, a penny-pinching limo driver I know told me this summer that he had his wife eliminate the random trips to the mall with the kids. Multiply out that kind of cost-consciousness, and that can't be good for brick-and-mortar stores. Gas prices have gone down a little, sure, but people are still cautious.

And then there are the millions like myself, who won't be caught dead anywhere near a mall during the month of December.

Since we all still have presents to buy, many of us will be heading online. Indeed, Forrester Research is predicting that 25 million U.S. households will shop online for the first time this year. And according to emarketer.com, internet shopping placed second on the list of consumer's favorite shopping venues, in an annual Holiday Mood Survey of retail spending and trends, commissioned by Deloitte. The top four reasons given for shopping online all revolved around convenience, although high gas prices were also a factor.

For those shoppers who have yet to catch the cyber yule spirit, and who still need a reason to go online - here are just a few of the enticements awaiting you:
* The much loved free shipping.
* Improved comparison shopping, pricing guides and alerts to better deals or discounts. Comparison shopping, by the way, is seen as "The Next Big Thing," in online shopping. About 15 million U.S. visitors went to Shopzilla and Shopping.com each in September alone, according to the Nielsen/NetRatings.
* The ability to create online shopping and wish lists, for example Yahoo's beta launch of its "Pick Lists" feature, and Dulance, which enables users to create wish lists and receive electronic notices of hot deals through RSS Web feeds.
* Referrals - Google and Yahoo are reportedly referring 25% more holiday shoppers to the top E-commerce sites than they did last year.
* Product reviews, and electronic "try-ons"
* Special discounts that recognize good customers; and coupons designed to motivate shoppers who leave sites without making a purchase.
* Incentives for consumers willing to share their experiences and tips.

The effort to draw the consumer into the marketing process is getting more sophisticated. Amazon has for years posted customer reviews and top ten lists, but Yahoo's shopping site is taking this a step further. It is using financial incentives to get consumers to make recommendations, and providing a piece of the commission if the recommendation drives traffic to a merchant's site. Shop and make money at the same time - now there's a deal!

Of course, it's not all shop 'til you drop. Lurking in the background, are consumer fears about identity theft. A survey commissioned by IBM finds consumers so fearful that their personal information will be stolen over the holidays, that many are altering their behavior because of it. Specifically, nearly 20% of the 1,000 adults surveyed said they plan to avoid, or reduce, online transactions for the rest of the year.

In addition, a survey by I4 Commerce found that 72% of the respondents were concerned about providing retailers with their credit card information due to recent news about identity theft.

These concerns won't necessarily stop consumers from buying online, but it's a heads up to ebusinesses that they need to take security seriously, and they may need to provide lots of reassurance this holiday season.

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