Survey: E-Commerce Doesn't Reduce Holiday Stress

Here's a Christmas fable fast becoming as well-known as Rudolph or Frosty: The Web makes holiday shopping headache-free! Do it all from home, with just a click of the mouse! But for many shoppers, that scenario is as fantastic as a jolly fat man sliding down your chimney. Fifty-four percent of British consumers think Christmas shopping has gotten more stressful despite advances in E-commerce, according to a new survey by polling company IPSOS.

The reason may be that shopping online throws a whole new set of worries into the holiday mix. Forty percent of respondents said they were anxious about giving out their credit card over the Web, and 25% said they worried that gifts wouldn't be delivered on time. Only one shopper out of 10 with Web access said the Net actually helped reduce stress.

Traditional retail shoppers have plenty of their own complaints about oppressive crowds (59%), unhelpful staff (30%), and stores that run out of what they want (25%).

The survey included interviews with 1,000 British shoppers over the age of 15 during the first week of December.