Shoppers look for bargains online this Christmas
New research by Paypal has found that almost 39 million people will be doing some or all of their Christmas shopping online this year, representing over three quarters (79%) of all those surveyed.
Paypal said there was a 3% increase in those who said they planned to do the vast majority of their Christmas shopping over the internet, taking the total to 10 million.
Rob Skinner, consumer affairs manager at PayPal said: “This year will see a mobile Christmas, with many getting a smartphone as a present, and others doing at least some of their Christmas shopping on their mobile.”
This year, the research showed that online shoppers plan to spend an average of £245, an 8% increase on last year’s spend, totalling £9.5 billion to be spent in the run up to Christmas.
In addition, the group who shops most online (those aged 18-34) are planning the biggest increase in online spend, up 23% from £196 last year to £241 in 2011.
Shoppers said the most important factors when shopping online for Christmas were:
– Saving money/finding a bargain (65%)
– Free delivery (35%)
– Speed and convenience (30%)
– Buying from a trusted brand/website (17%)
– To buy things you can’t buy on the high street (16%)
– Rapid delivery time (10%)
– Ability to send items directly to the recipient as a gift (4%)
Despite online shopping being the norm for most shoppers, the research found that many are still failing to take basic safety measures. One in five admitted to using the same password for various sites, and over a third (36%) said they forget to look for the padlock icon that indicates a secure site when making a payment.
Overall, around 2.5 million people (5%) said they did not take any precautions to protect themselves when shopping online.
Rob Skinner continued: “Online festive shopping is incredibly convenient, but we’d urge shoppers to take a few simple steps to ensure that they stay safe online this Christmas.”
