Step Aside, Santa

Online Shoppings on the Rise

One in six Americans plans to buy holiday gifts online this year, up nearly 300 percent from the same time last year.

Analysis By Gary Langer, ABCNEWS.com

Nov. 22 Step back, Santa: The number of Americans who plan to buy their holiday gifts on the Internet has nearly tripled this year, to more than one out of every six adults.

Eighteen percent in a new ABC News survey say theyll buy Christmas or other holiday gifts online this year, compared to just seven percent who say they did so last year. Thats an increase of nearly 22 million individuals in the world of Internet commerce.

The holiday shopping season, a make-or-break time for most retailers, traditionally begins after Thanksgiving. Its especially critical this year for online merchants, hoping their investment in this new channel can draw enough buyers to produce profits.

This survey suggests ultimate success not only because of the extraordinary rate of growth in online buying, but also because these shoppers seem to have money: In households with annual incomes over $50,000, holiday buying online soars to 32 percent, or nearly one in three adults.

The split is very similar among education groups. (Education is closely correlated with income.) Among people who havent gone beyond high school (half the public), just eight percent say theyll buy gifts online this year. Among those whove earned a college degree, online buying soars to 36 percent.

Divisions

There are other divisions in online shopping. Its most popular among young adults; a quarter of them say theyll be buying holiday gifts online. That falls off sharply among their elders, to just five percent of retirement-aged adults.

There also are regional differences; online holiday shopping is most popular in the Northeast twice as popular as in the South. These age and regional differences are far sharper now than in online buying last year.

One area, though, shows much less division the sexes. This year 20 percent of men say theyll buy holiday gifts online; so will nearly as many women, 16 percent.

Methodology
This ABC News.com survey was conducted by telephone Nov. 17-21, 1999, among a random national sample of 1,012 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Fieldwork by ICR-International Communications Research of Media, Pa. 

Gary Langer is the head of ABCNEWS polling unit.