56% of Online Retailers Expect +15% Rise in Holiday Sales

Some 56.1 percent of U.S. online retailers expect their holiday sales to increase at least fifteen percent over last year. However, 77.5 percent of retailers surveyed last year expected their sales to grow more than 15 percent, according to a Shopzilla survey.

Despite an increase in transportation costs, retailers do not plan to cut back on popular free shipping promotions. This year, 78 percent of retailers plan to offer free shipping during the holiday season, consistent with last year’s levels.

One of the ways retailers are compensating for increased shipping costs is by reducing other promotions.

However, according to the survey, 20.1 percent of shoppers have less money to spend this year for the holidays. Nearly 11 percent cited a poor economy as a factor.

“Online retailers are resilient, but not immune, to the challenges of this holiday season,” said Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org. “Retailers will be heavily promotional to attract shoppers on a budget, but have also invested in new site features to improve the online buying experience.”

Many retailers have rolled out new website features - such as improved site search, product video and customer reviews - to improve the customer experience.

For price-focused shoppers, retailers have added and enhanced clearance sale pages and featured sale pages. In addition, retailers continue to experiment with social networking as nearly one-fourth of online retailers added a Facebook page this year.

Store retailers have an opportunity to grab some of the online activity for themselves. “As budget-focused consumers begin holiday shopping, many are starting on the web,” said Helen Malani, Shopzilla’s online shopping expert. “Whether they make those holiday purchases online or in stores, the Internet will have a tremendous influence on holiday sales this year.”

With the Internet becoming more of a mainstay in the retail landscape, many retailers will be using their storefronts to promote company websites this holiday season. According to the survey, 74.3 percent of multichannel retailers will offer email registration in stores for customers who don’t yet subscribe. Nearly as many will advertise websites in stores and more than half offer the ability for store associates to place an online order for customers.