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New York, New York - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - December 19, 2005 - Online shoppers spent $18.6 billion, excluding travel, during the first six weeks (October 29 - December 9) of the 2005 holiday season. This represents a 16 percent increase in U.S. online spending from a year ago.

The Goldman Sachs and Co., Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive’s Holiday eSpending Report also reveals that 19 percent of consumers have yet to start their holiday shopping. The eSpending Report is based on a weekly national survey of approximately 1,000 online adult consumers, capturing consumer spending, attitudes and motivations of more than 6,500 shoppers during the first six weeks of the 2005 holiday season.

According to this week’s eSpending Report, online shoppers have spent the most on apparel/clothing thus far in the 2005 holiday season, totaling $3.4 billion, which was the majority, or 17 percent, of total online revenue. The consumer electronics and computer hardware/peripherals categories placed second and third with revenue totals of $2.8 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively. Books and toys/video games rounded out the top five product categories, accounting for a respective $2.2 billion and $1.4 billion in online revenue.

According to Heather Dougherty, Senior Retail Analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings, ”Apparel and consumer electronics are consistently among the most popular gifts purchased during the holidays, resulting in the largest share of online revenue. Additionally, sales in the computer hardware category have been fueled by aggressive discounting on items, such as PCs and laptops. The combination of well-known brands and retailers in the top categories strongly complement and drive online sales, because consumers trust and have confidence in both.”

During the sixth week of the 2005 holiday retail season, the Holiday eSpending Report asked more than 1,000 consumers to break down their 2005 holiday budget amongst various sales channels. The traditional brick-and-mortar stores captured the majority, or 69 percent of spending, compared to the 3.5 percent designated to catalogs. Online, the only channel to see growth, garnered 27.5 percent of the holiday budget, jumping 5.9 percentage points from last year.

In addition, consumers had a late start to this year’s online shopping. As of the fifth week of the 2005 holiday season, 30 percent of consumers had not started their online shopping, which was up from 23 percent during the same time period last year. By the sixth week, 19 percent of consumers still had not started their online holiday shopping, while 37 percent of online shoppers indicated they had finished. Forty-four percent of consumers stated that they’ve begun but had not finished holiday shopping.

To date, the majority of holiday shoppers are satisfied with their overall 2005 shopping experience with 70 percent noting that they have felt very or somewhat satisfied. Only five percent of consumers cited they were either very dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied.

Ms. Dougherty continued, ”As online retail continues to mature as a sales channel, shoppers are provided the luxury of waiting to make holiday gift purchases until the last couple weeks of the season. Online retailers are extending shipping deadlines later each year, which provides ample time to comparison shop for the best deal. Price remains one of the biggest motivators online and is reflected in large spikes in audience traffic.

The survey began to field the week of October 29. The week 6 data are based on responses from a sample of 1,031 U.S. adults who were online, fielded from December 3-9, 2005; to date, over 6,500 consumers have been surveyed in total.

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