Online, mobile shopping to see growth this holiday season, PriceGrabber finds
LOS ANGELES — In its latest winter holiday shopping survey, PriceGrabber said almost all shoppers plan on shopping online, while just nearly one-half of consumers expressed intentions to shop at traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
Based on responses 2,322 U.S. online shopping consumers, PriceGrabber said that 90% indicated they will shop online from a computer — up 1% from last year — and 13% will shop online via mobile phone or device — compared with 9% in 2010 — while 48% said they will shop in brick-and-mortar stores this year, down from 65% in 2010.
When it comes to where holiday purchases will be made, the average consumer will make almost two-thirds (63%) of purchases online, followed by 33% at brick-and-mortar stores and 4% from a mobile phone. In 2010, 57% said they would make purchases online, followed by 40% at brick-and-mortar stores and 3% via mobile phone or device.
Among respondents using a mobile device to holiday shop this year, PriceGrabber found that men and women differ: 77% of men planned to check prices online before making an offline purchase, compared with 71% of women. Additional findings included:
When asked where they would shop via mobile device, 77% of men said they will shop from home, compared with 82% of women;
20% of women said they will shop while standing in line, compared with 16% of men;
44% of men said they will shop from work, versus 39% of women; and
25% of men said they will shop via mobile device from a brick-and-mortar store, compared with 18% of women.
“We aren’t at all surprised to see online shopping make an even bigger splash in 2011 than it did in 2010,” PriceGrabber general manager Graham Jones said. “With the ability to monitor prices at one’s fingertips and to shop around the clock, today’s busy and money-conscious consumer is looking to online and mobile shopping as go-to options for finding the best deals during a frenetic period such as the winter holiday season.”