Online buying adds some joy for retailers: Surge in gift cards another big present

Dec. 28--A 24 percent jump in Internet sales from last year helped ward off an otherwise lackluster Christmas shopping season for the nation's retailers. Consumers' growing comfort with Internet shopping coupled with aggressive campaigns promising gift deliveries by Christmas--even if orde...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inKnight Ridder Tribune Business News p. 1
Main Author John Schmeltzer and Mary Ann Fergus, Chicago Tribune
Format Newsletter
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington Tribune Content Agency LLC 28.12.2005
Subjects
Advisors
Christmas
Consumer behavior
Consumers
Donations
Gift cards & certificates
Gifts
Internet
Online sales
Retail sales
Retail stores
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Summary:Dec. 28--A 24 percent jump in Internet sales from last year helped ward off an otherwise lackluster Christmas shopping season for the nation's retailers. Consumers' growing comfort with Internet shopping coupled with aggressive campaigns promising gift deliveries by Christmas--even if ordered as late as Dec. 23-- helped propel Internet sales to the best showing since online sales records first were tracked in 1999. The electronic sales rose to an estimated $20 billion compared with $4.7 billion six years ago. Shoppers like Jay Carroll, a 48-year-old commercial insurance broker from Palatine, helped set the tone. They let their fingers walk across keyboards when shopping for Christmas presents this year rather than gripping their cars' steering wheels while searching for a parking space at a shopping mall. "I try to do as much as possible online," said Carroll, who said he used his computer to round up a digital camera for his wife and a skateboard and accessories for his 11-year-old son. "I like the convenience and I'm not a shopper," he said. Strong Internet ordering helped push overall retail sales up at least a full percentage point, according to Gian Fulgoni, co-founder and chairman of Reston, Va.- based ComScore Networks Inc., which tracks consumer behavior. Sales of gift cards, about $20 billion this year, added another full percentage point to the retail sales, he said. That's a big boost for retailers, who rely on the December holiday shopping season for 25 percent of total sales. This is the time of year their books go from red to black.