Postmortem: US Online Holiday Season, 2009

June 23rd, 2010

Patti Freeman Evans

With contributor:

Brendan McGowan

Summary

The 2009 holiday season arrived during the great recession. In spite of the economic slowdown, nearly three-quarters of online holiday buyers maintained or increased spend in the online channel compared with 2008. The online channel remained resilient for a number of reasons; these ranged from higher satisfaction with shipping times to concessions on shipping costs. Holiday 2009 Web buying provides a clear historical case study for the selection and convenience of the Web and should be studied by retailers seeking to embrace an increasingly multichannel world as they prepare for the 2010 holiday season.

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