"Invisible" Costs of Offline Shopping Spur
Increase in Online Holiday Spending
Recent Shopzilla Survey Reveals Hidden Costs of Offline Shopping
Hitting Consumers Hard This Season
LOS ANGELES - November 20, 2007 - Although offline retail sales are expected to be soft this holiday season online retailers are anticipating a merry season as consumers shift their holiday spending to the Web. What is driving this shift? In addition to tighter budgets due to economic factors such as housing worries and a consumer credit crunch, a new holiday survey conducted by leading shopping search site Shopzilla (www.shopzilla.com), reveals consumers are feeling the effect of the "invisible" costs of shopping - items such as eating out, gas and gift wrapping - which people don't always factor into their budgets.
Invisible Costs of Offline Shopping
| Food/Eating Out |
50.40% |
| Gas |
33.37% |
| Gift Wrapping |
9.32% |
| Time spent per mall trip |
5.5 hrs on average |
In addition, the Shopzilla survey showed that East Coasters feel the pinch of invisible costs more than West Coasters, with Southerners being the most affected.
Regional Impact
| |
East Coast |
Central |
South |
West |
Those who feel invisible costs have
increased in recent years |
88.44% |
87.12% |
90.94% |
83.42% |
Those who feel invisible costs have
not increased in recent years |
11.56% |
12.88% |
9.06% |
16.58% |
Nationally respondents cite time and convenience as the key drivers influencing their decision to shop online rather than visiting traditional brick-and-mortar retailers this year. In fact, a whopping 87% feel that they can find holiday gift items more easily online than in a store and 46% of online shoppers say they feel they could reclaim those 5.5 hours normally spent per mall trip, to instead spend more time with their families this season.
Another key driver influencing consumer behaviors this year is the "on-demand" shopping phenomenon. Today's consumers what to be on more control of their shopping experience and increased broadband penetration in the home is enabling people to drive their own shopping cycles.
"Convenience can have different meanings for different people, but it's clear that consumers are responding favorably to online shopping with their wallets," said Helen Malani, online shopping expert, Shopzilla. "One in three of online shoppers expect to do more of their holiday shopping online than a year ago."
About The Study:
The study, conducted by BizRate Research, a Shopzilla company, was based on a panel survey of 1,883 respondents who will be shopping for the holidays
this year. The panel study was conducted on Nov. 2-5, 2007 and has a margin of error of 1.1%.
About Shopzilla, Inc.:
Shopzilla is the most comprehensive shopping search site on the Web. With an index of more than 30 million products from more than 92,000 stores,
Shopzilla uses ShopRank, a proprietary patent-pending algorithm, to help shoppers instantly find virtually anything on sale from anyone, anywhere
on the Web, at the best price. Shopzilla also features powerful comparison tools and BizRate consumer reviews of stores and products, the Web's
largest and most trusted consumer feedback network. Every week Shopzilla prepares millions of shoppers to make smarter, more confident purchases
and delivers them directly to the checkout page of thousands of online merchants. Shopzilla also operates the BizRate consumer feedback network,
which collects approximately 1 million fresh shopping reviews per month. Founded in 1996, the Los Angeles-based company also operates sites in the
United Kingdom, France and Germany. Shopzilla is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP - News), a diverse media concern with interests in
national television networks, newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, TV retailing, and licensing and syndication. For more information,
visit www.shopzilla.com.
###
Media
