On Retailing

Tuesday, November 21, 2000

Texans prefer bricks to clicks for holiday buying

Nevertheless, more people nationwide plan to buy gifts online than last year

On the night before Christmas, all through his house, Frank Upton's shopping should be over without the click of a mouse.
   The 30-year-old Refugio resident finds it more convenient to walk the increasingly busy store aisles than to sit in front of his computer for his holiday shopping.
   "I can just come over here and pick something up instead of having to wait for it" to be delivered, he said.
   Upton joins a majority of Texans opting for traditional stores instead of online buying this holiday season, according to the Scripps Howard Texas Poll.
   While 21 percent of Texas shoppers are expected to shop online, many e-retail analysts said they are expecting a green Christmas.
   E-retail remains a relatively insignificant sum: The $12.5 billion in online sales nationally is only 1.5 percent of the anticipated $858 billion total retail sales for the quarter.
   So far this year, the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce estimates that e-retail sales in the second quarter accounted for 0.68 percent of the total $815.7 billion sales. E-commerce sales in the first quarter were 0.70 percent of total sales.
   "There's obviously still a long way to go," said Gary Galati, spokesman for eMarketer, a research firm that provides statistics about the Internet.
   Still, he said, that slight growth is reason to be jolly.
   According to a study conducted by eMarketer, online buyers will spend a little more than $280 apiece this season - a 30 percent increase from 1999.
   Estimates for online spending range from $6 billion to nearly $20 billion depending on which company definition of holiday season and e-commerce is used, but most analysts expect growth during the holiday season.
   eMarketer estimates that 45 million consumers will make purchases online this quarter, comprising 81 percent of all online buyers for the year. The firm expects 5.8 million Internet users to make their first purchase over the web this holiday season.
   Jupiter Media Metrix, an Internet analysis and marketing firm, predicts that 35 million U.S. consumers will buy gifts online. That's up from 20 million last year.
   But according to the Texas Poll, the outlook for online shopping in Texas isn't great.
   That survey suggests that Texans plan to spend more than $500 on Christmas gifts this year but 76 percent of those consumers won't surf to shop.
   For some, that decision comes despite having made online purchases throughout the rest of the year.
   Upton, for instance, said he has made the occasional online purchase throughout the year. But having already bought nearly $500 worth of Christmas gifts so far, he said holiday shopping is a different beast.
   "I've bought stuff online," he said. "I don't shop online."
   For others, the Internet provides too much opportunity. Mary Sowers, who made about half of her $1,000-worth of purchases using catalogues, said Internet buying would be fine except for the possibility that her grandchildren might see unsuitable content onscreen.
   "We're not online and we don't want to be," the 50-year-old Taft resident said about the decision she and her husband made. "There's a lot of bad stuff. It's just too accessible to children."
   But even if the holiday forecasts fall short, Galati said, there shouldn't be any long-term damage to the e-commerce market.
   "The categories of businesses that are going to succeed online are the ones who have established themselves with good, solid plans," he said. "It's really about sound business practices."
   On Retailing is published every other Tuesday in the Caller-Times Business section. Ideas may be submitted to: On Retailing, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, P.O. Box 9136, Corpus Christi, Texas 78469; e-mail Michael Hines at hinesm@caller.com; fax items to (361) 886-3732; or call (361) 886-4316.
  

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