Almost Half Of Online Holiday Shoppers Buying MoreAlmost Half Of Online Holiday Shoppers Buying More

Online shoppers are spending more at their favorite virtual stores this year, with more than three quarters of them spending less in retail stores or through catalogs, a study released Tuesday showed.

On average, the more than 500 people surveyed as part of DoubleClick Inc.'s Holiday 2004 Shopping Report said they planned to spend a third of their holiday shopping budget online, 59 percent in bricks-and-mortar stores and 8 percent in catalogs.

Forty-five percent of the respondents said they planned to spend more online this year than last year, compared to only 25 percent who would buy more in retail stores and 10 percent through catalogs, the marketing services company said. In the opposite direction, 25 percent of the online shoppers said they would spend less on the Internet, versus 30 percent in retail stores and 49 percent on catalogs.

"People are getting more comfortable and depending more on the Internet, as they get use to broadband services," Rick Bruner, research manager for DoubleClick, said. "Everything works a lot faster, and it's taking away the frustration of waiting for pages to load."

Analyst firms have said that more than half of the people with Internet connections today in their homes use high-speed connections.

As to how online shoppers are finding their gifts for family and friends, 38 percent cited search-engine results, with 30 percent "seeing products on a web site" first, which was the next most popular method. Twenty-six percent of shoppers found products through word of mouth, and 22 percent and 20 percent after seeing them in a catalog or store, respectively.

Those people who used the Internet the most for shopping were those who said they don't bother with last-minute sales, hate lines at the post office and put a premium on saving time while holiday shopping, DoubleClick said. People who felt shopping centers were fun and waited to find last-minute bargains were the lightest online holiday shoppers. They also tended to represent the lowest income group.

Among shoppers planning to spend more this year, 34 percent said they had more disposable income, while 27 percent said they were being paid more. Only 16 percent cited the strength of the economy.