DETROIT – Online retailers will come at consumers with all they have to boost holiday sales including offering free shipping, which entices shoppers battling high gasoline prices.
Nearly eight out of every 10 Internet retailers will offer free shipping on holiday orders despite increased shipping costs from high gas prices, according to a survey released Thursday by Shop.org and BizRate Research.
Free shipping, fast shipping, gifts with purchase and offers available only online are other popular promotions for the holidays, said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org.
“These promotions will enable customers to save money while helping retailers maximize their holiday sales,” he said. “And, because companies have planned for them as part of their overall marketing strategy, these promotions will not come at the expense of profits.”
Online holiday sales are expected to climb 27 percent this year to $27 billion, according to a survey by Retail Forward, a Columbus, Ohio-based research and consulting firm.
The online sales growth is fueled by more aggressive marketing by retailers and by the rising comfort level of many consumers to buy via the Internet, according to Steve Spiwak, Retail Forward economist.
“Retailers that can tie the convenience of shopping online, particularly during the busy holiday shopping season, with the benefits of a local store presence will be best positioned to boost online sales during the holidays,” Spiwak said.
Moosejaw Mountaineering Inc. has six stores and plans to open another this fall. But its Web site www.moosejaw.com doesn’t need help from the stores, said Robert Wolfe, company president. The site launched in 1996 and accounts for about 65 percent of total sales, he said.
“It started out as a bonus to the retail business. Now, it is really the driver of the entire business,” Wolfe said.
The private company ships online orders from its Michigan stores in East Lansing, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe and Rochester Hills; from Chicago and Deerfield, Ill., and from its Madison Heights, Mich., warehouse.
Moosejaw sells outdoor gear and apparel from 80 brands including Patagonia and the North Face but also sells private-label products.
While the company always offers free shipping on orders over $99, it may add promotions for quicker shipping during the holidays. It prefers to drive its online growth by something Wolfe calls “nonsensical marketing.”
He and his brother write “the dumbest, most chaotic text you will read in your life” which they dub Moosejaw Madness. It has its own link on the Web site. The company has six employees who spend most of their day sending personal replies to customer e-mails. A rewards program also has increased online sales, he said.
“We talk to the customer on a level that is not product-oriented,” Wolfe said.
Overall holiday sales during November and December are expected to rise from 5 percent to 7 percent, according to two national estimates. That’s compared with last year’s jumps of 6.7 percent and 8.3 percent. More than $414 billion was spent during the holidays in 2004, which accounts for roughly 20 percent of total retail sales, National Retail Federation figures show.
—
(c) 2005, Detroit Free Press.
Visit the Freep, the World Wide Web site of the Detroit Free Press, at http://www.freep.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-10-06-05 1918EDT
Comments are no longer available on this story