Trends Report

Holiday 2008 Postmortem: How The Past Holiday Season Influenced Online Buyer Behavior

May 13th, 2009
Patti Freeman Evans, null
Patti Freeman Evans
With contributors:
Vikram Sehgal , Cristina Bugnaru , Brendan McGowan

Summary

2008 online holiday sales experienced the lowest increase in the past 10 years — 5%. The number of online holiday buyers was meanwhile up 11% from the same period in 2007, which maintained the online environment as a bright spot among slumping offline retail sales. Out of all online holiday buyers, men ages 45 to 64 and those earning $70,000 and more per year made the greatest contribution to this past holiday season's online sales increase. The online channel will remain an attractive alternative, but financial uncertainty will continue to make online holiday buyers cautious in their shopping behavior.

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