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Online Retailers Continue to See Strong Holiday Sales Growth

88% of Consumers Are Satisfied with Online Buying Experience

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Online retailers have found themselves
with increased sales and high levels of customer satisfaction, according to
the findings of a new Shop.org/BizRate.com survey. The third installment of
the 2003 eHoliday Mood Study, conducted by Shop.org and BizRate.com, found
that a majority of retailers’ average daily transactions and site traffic
during the first two weeks of December have increased compared to the same
two-week period last year. For the holiday season so far, nearly half of
retailers (49 percent) have seen holiday sales increase more than 35 percent
over last year.

Retailers seem to be managing the increased activity and sales well.
According to the survey, 88 percent of consumers are somewhat or very
satisfied with their online buying experience this holiday.

"Today’s time-strapped consumer may not always have the opportunity to
dedicate an entire day to holiday shopping," said Scott Silverman, executive
director of Shop.org, the online division of the National Retail Federation.
"Because online shopping is so quick and convenient, online retailers are
proving themselves to be a great alternative to shopping at the mall."

Online retailers have also been successful providing online tools that
help shoppers select gifts this holiday. In fact, 35 percent of retailers said
that "gift idea centers" were their most successful site feature and another
29 percent cited "suggested items" as their most successful shopping tool.
However, "product promotions" were still the biggest draw, with 39 percent of
retailers choosing it as their best feature.

"Online retailers have succeeded in developing shopping tools for their
customers that leverage the unique characteristics of the online environment,"
said Chuck Davis, CEO of BizRate.com. "The real beneficiaries of these online
retail innovations, however, are their customers who continue to express their
satisfaction by doing more shopping online."

The eHoliday Mood Study is the only holiday measurement tool that is based
on data provided directly from online retailers in addition to consumer data.
The third of four installments, which represents the two-week buying period
between November 30 and December 13, includes data from more than 80 leading
Internet and multi-channel retailers — all Shop.org members.

About the Survey

The Shop.org/BizRate.com 2003 eHoliday Mood Study was designed to gauge
consumer behavior and online retailers’ success during the winter holiday
season. The poll of 1,270 online buyers (defined as anyone who has made a
purchase online in the last twelve months) and more than 80 online retailers,
all members of Shop.org, was conducted December 15-16.

BizRate.com. Founded in 1996, BizRate.com is one of the largest, fastest
and most accurate shopping search engines on the Web. With an index of over 30
million product offers from more than 39,000 stores, BizRate.com uses
ShopRank(TM), a proprietary shopping search algorithm, to produce the
industry’s most relevant search results by weighing price, popularity and
availability of products, against the reputations of merchants that sell them.
At the heart of ShopRank(TM) are BizRate.com’s signature merchant and product
ratings, collected from more than one million online buyers each month, making
them the most reliable ratings on the Web. Every week, the BizRate.com
shopping search engine prepares millions of shoppers to make smarter, more
confident purchases and sends them directly to the checkout page of thousands
of online merchants.

Shop.org, the association for retailers online, is where the best retail
minds come together to gain the insight, knowledge and intelligence to make
smarter, more informed decisions in the evolving world of the Internet and
Multi-Channel retailing. Founded in 1996, Shop.org became a division of the
National Retail Federation in January 2001. The association’s membership
includes interactive executives from store-based retailers, catalog-based
retailers, Web-based retailers, and retail solution providers.

The survey will be conducted every two weeks during the holiday season
with the final release on Tuesday, January 6.

How satisfied are you with your online buying experience this holiday
season?

1126 responses %
Very satisfied 60.6%
Somewhat satisfied 27.3%
Neither 9.7%
Somewhat dissatisfied 2.3%
Very dissatisfied 0.2%

Compared to this 2 week period last year, have your average number of
transactions increased or decreased?

86 responses %
Increased significantly 45.3%
Increased somewhat 40.7%
Stayed the same 5.8%
Decreased somewhat 8.1%
Decreased significantly 0.0%

Compared to this 2 week period last year, has your site traffic increased
or decreased?

85 responses %
Increased significantly 40.0%
Increased somewhat 44.7%
Stayed the same 8.2%
Decreased somewhat 5.9%
Decreased significantly 1.2%

What site or shopping feature has been most successful in driving business
for this 2 week period? (Multiple Response)

83 responses % Rank
Product promotion 38.6% 1
Gift idea center 34.9% 2
Suggested items 28.9% 3
Clearance sale page 25.3% 4
Featured sale item page 21.7% 5
Bestsellers list 13.3% 6
None 10.8% 7
Shipping upgrade 9.6% 8
Other 8.4% 9
Site banner 6.0% 10
Onsite product recommend 4.8% 11
Personalized site feature 3.6% 12
Customer product reviews 2.4% 13
Live chat 2.4% 13
Streaming audio/video 2.4% 13
Loyalty program 2.4% 13

For the entire 2003 holiday sales period, is your revenue from shipments
compared to the same period last year:

84 responses % Cumulative %
150% or higher 2.4% 2.4%
100% to 149% higher 10.7% 13.1%
75% to 99% higher 7.1% 20.2%
50% to 74% higher 13.1% 33.3%
35% to 49% higher 15.5% 48.8%
25% to 34% higher 11.9% 60.7%
18% to 24% higher 7.1% 67.9%
10% to 17% higher 11.9% 79.8%
0 to 9% higher 4.8% 84.5%
About the same 4.8% 89.3%
0 to 9% lower 3.6% 92.9%
10 to 19% lower 7.1% 100.0%
20% or lower 0.0% 100.0%

Note: Survey results are posted online at http://www.nrf.com/press.

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