Channel Hopping Part of Holiday Shopping: DoubleClick Survey

Quick, which of the many shopping channels showed the greatest growth during the recent holiday period?

You’d be wrong if you said it was retail, catalogs or the Internet. It was all of them combined.

Yes, the single-greatest growth was in the number of consumers who shopped in multiple channels, according to DoubleClick’s third survey of shopping survey. That percentage jumped to 65%, a 9-point increase over the prior year.

In contrast, catalog usage experienced only a 2% increase, and retail actually suffered a 2% decline—to 85%.

Internet usage grew by 2% to, but consumers showed that they are getting savvier. Of those surveyed, 84% said they abandoned online shopping carts last year because of additional costs like shipping and handling. That’s up from 78% in 2002.

Shoppers are also getting more fickle. Almost a third said they had changed their minds about a product during their visit online, compared with 195 in 2002.

DoubleClick reported that separate research form its SiteAdvance product revealed that for every dollar sold online during the season, over $6 was abandoned in a shopping cart.

But there is some good news—92% said they were receptive to free shipping offers as a way of luring them back to a shopping site.

Meanwhile, 36% of all respondents shopped in two channels—retail and Internet. And 24% used all three.

According to DoubleClick, the largest spenders were those who shopped in all three of the channels listed above. They spent $1,000 during the season, and 35% of them spent 33% more than the average single-channel shopper.

Their reasons for splurging? They were as follows: More people to buy for (49); special offers or discounts (42); economic reasons (37%); and more interesting gifts (36%).

Triple-channel shoppers tended to be female. And they spent an average of 17% more than dual-channel consumers. Retail-Internet buyers were most often men.

But to browse in a channel was not necessarily to shop in it. The survey showed that 57% browsed in one channel and purchased in another.

How did that work? DoubleClick found that 43% of the multi-channel shoppers who browsed on the Internet went to retail stores to make the actual purchase. Another 19% reported that the browsed in catalogs and shopped in stores. Finally, 16% said they browsed in stores but bought online.

The report is based on data from 1,000 respondents, who were interviewed in December and January. The survey was directed by Beyond Interactive and conducted by Greenfield Online.

“The number and value of multi-channel shoppers continues to increase every year,” said Court Cunningham, senior vice president with DoubleClick, in a statement. “Marketers should focus on identifying, targeting and communicating with this valuable customer segment, to maximize the value of their marketing and their overall profitability.”