Good Intentions for Holiday '03

Intentions to spend more online for the holiday shopping season are building, BIGresearch revealed in a monthly survey that analyzed who will be spending more, less, or the same in a variety of channels.

While the month-to-month figures show that many U.S. shoppers are gearing up for gift-giving, there are fewer that are intending to spend more than those who were surveyed in October 2002. The good news is that those who are planning on spending more over the coming three months are going to do it online.

Gary Drenik, president and CEO of BIGresearch comments on the year-over-year difference in shopping intentions. “The current economy, which seems to have been around forever, has given rise to a more practical and price (read: sales) oriented shopper. Other than Ebay and Amazon, there aren’t a whole lot of new, well-known internet sites for consumers to shop online.”

“It could be that the constant discounting by the department stores, discount stores, and specialty stores in response to the challenges from Wal-Mart and the economy has given many consumers the idea that the best deals this holiday season will be offline at brick and mortar stores,” continued Drenik.

Spending Intentions in the Next 3 Months
OCTOBER 2003
	Internet	Catalogue	TV-Home Shopping
More	19.4%	10.9%	4.7%
Same	56.2%	55.9%	52.9%
Less	24.4%	33.2%	42.4%
OCTOBER 2002
	Internet	Catalogue	TV-Home Shopping
More	24.0%	11.7%	4.6%
Same	57.4%	58.8%	60.0%
Less	18.6%	29.5%	35.4%
Source: BIGresearch

The percentage of those planning to spend more online has increased steadily since November 2002, when 24.2 percent indicated a spending spree was imminent. Catalogue spending intentions peaked in November 2002 at 12.9 percent, and TV-home shopping expectations were at 7.5 percent.

Drenik is optimistic about 2003: “Online has shown consistent growth over the past 5 or 6 months, and I see no reason for it not to continue through the remainder of the year.”

Trends in 2003 Online Spending Intentions
	June	July	August	September
More	12.1%	11.4%	12.2%	15.5%
Same	58.7%	58.8%	59.6%	57.5%
Less	29.1%	29.8%	28.2%	26.9%
Source: BIGresearch

Once again, the earnings disparity was apparent, as BIGresearch broke down shopping intentions by household income and gender.

Those Who Plan on Spending More Over The Next 3 Months (October 2003)
	$50k+	<$50k	Male	Female
Internet	23.9%	17.3%	19.8%	19.2%
Catalogue	12.2%	10.5%	8.3%	13.2%
TV-Home Shopping	5.6%	4.4%	3.1%	6.2%
Source: BIGresearch