Wedding Goers Shop Online for Gifts

This wedding season, a growing number of gifts are being purchased online, according to a survey conducted by Feedback Research.

Seventy-five percent of respondents in the survey plan to attend one to three weddings this year. Online wedding gift purchases has increased one percentage point since last year. Thirty-four percent of respondents have, or will, purchase wedding gifts through online retail channels. Gift registries remain strong, but experienced a six-point dip from results last year. “Consumer behavior indicates that the Web continues to be a popular channel for wedding gift shopping,” said Marc Silverberg, Claria’s senior director of marketing. “Analysis shows that more than a third of wedding site viewers purchased wedding gifts online with 80 percent buying their gifts from the bride and groom’s registry.”

Retailers with the highest traffic were Target.com (39.6 percent); BedBathandBeyond.com (25.6 percent); and CrateandBarrel.com (13.9 percent). Sears.com had the highest number of repeat viewers to its registry, the average viewer returned to the site 4.1 times during a research period. Belk.com averaged 3.6 visits, and BedBathandBeyond.com visitors returned 3.1 times.

Not all gift-givers are be wedding attendees. Sxty-five percent typically buy gifts for all couples who invite them to a wedding, 30 percent only purchase gifts for weddings they attend. Purchase price disclosed by 60 percent of respondents averaged $26 to $75.

A group of 48 percent of respondents indicate they will personally purchase a wedding gift in the next three months. Of those, 43 percent say they will buy online, while 83 percent plan to purchase a gift requested in the bride and groom’s gift registry.

The survey group was selected from Feedback Research’s parent company Claria’s GAIN Network. The group consisted of users within the GAIN Network who viewed wedding-related sites, including e-tailers and gift registries. Traffic was recorded and analyzed from March 20 to June 20 of this year. A random sampling of in-market consumers was surveyed to find out how they were shopping and using the Internet for wedding-related activities.