Australians Spent AUD$150 Million Online This Christmas

Internet research firm www.consult this week released its estimate that shoppers spent AU$150 million (US$98 million) online during the recent holiday season.

Research showed that some 598,000 Australian Internet users purchased goods
online, nearly four times the number who had purchased online during the
same period the previous year.
According to www.consult, this was consistent with the overall increase in
online shopping at the consumer retail level, which grew from A$250 million
in 1998 to over A$920 million in 1999.

The 1999 www.consult Online Xmas Shopping Report also revealed that an
additional A$74 million was spent online on non-gift purchases during the
holiday season.

Amongst the online shoppers who purchased gifts this Christmas, online
shopping represented on average less than 28 per cent of their total spend.
In contrast, researching products through the Internet influenced 41 per
cent of the offline gift purchases made by online shoppers.

In addition to the regular online shopping categories of books, music,
computers and computer games, toys, wine, hampers and flowers were
particularly popular this season.

Australian online shoppers this Xmas period were extremely satisfied with
their online purchasing experience according to www.consult research,
despite some recent reports from the US concerning consumer dissatisfaction
with online Xmas shopping.

Overall, 70 per cent of shoppers were found to be completely satisfied, 18
per cent were mostly satisfied, 10 per cent were moderately satisfied and
only two per cent were dissatisfied.
Importantly, approximately 98 per cent of those who shopped online this
Xmas intended to shop online next Xmas.

The survey involved a random representative selection of 2,339 regular
Australian Internet users surveyed between December 18 and 24.