Holiday Cyber Shopping: Online Sales Forecast to Grow 23% This Season.
Posted on: Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 12:00 CST
By Robert Rodriguez, The Fresno Bee, Calif.
Nov. 28--Jessica Blanchfield didn't have to wake up at dawn to get her Christmas shopping done.
She's a cyber shopper, and Monday was her day.
Retailers have dubbed the Monday after Thanksgiving's holiday shopping stampede as Cyber Monday, the unofficial start of the online buying season.
This year, online shopping is forecast to bring in an estimated $27 billion in sales from Thanksgiving to Christmas, up 23% from a year ago, according to Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass.
"It is just so much easier to do my shopping online," said Blanchfield of Clovis. "I have a little one, and driving him around and going into stores is nearly impossible."
Blanchfield estimated that 95% of her gift shopping, especially Christmas, is done online. And on occasion, she said, she'll do some of it at work.
She may be the exception. Internet shopping analysts say that as online sales grow, so does the practice in the workplace, where high-speed connections and downtime help make the experience more enticing.
Last year, the top online holiday shopping days fell on weekdays, according to comScore Networks, an Internet research firm in Reston, Va.
"The reason is that the majority of online shopping, 58%, is still done from work," said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman.
Andrew Lipsman, a spokesman for the company, said comScore's research shows that online shopping spikes on Mondays and Tuesdays, generally from the hours of 11 a.m. to 1p.m.
"It has been common knowledge that people go to work and shop online because they have broadband connections. But now [that] a lot of homes have those connections, we think it has just become a force of habit," Lipsman said. "You also don't have your kids or your spouse snooping over your shoulder. It is an effective way to shop privately."
But shopping without prying eyes isn't why employers allow Internet access in the workplace. Most companies have installed Web filters and other devices to either restrict or block inappropriate use of the Internet, including shopping.
At Fresno County, only a limited number of its 7,000 employees have access to the Internet, and those who do are closely tracked.
"The pull to do some Internet surfing on company time is terribly tantalizing," said Gary Osmondson, the county's chief information officer. "It can really be a huge problem, not just with time lost, but staff could wander into inappropriate sites."
Some companies have found a happy medium.
How much time his employees Christmas shop online is not an issue for Daniel Duffy, president of Valley Network Solutions in Fresno.
"We have sites that are flat out objectionable and totally restricted," he said. "But we have opened up some shopping sites."
Duffy said he will look at the computer-use log from time to time to see if any employee is spending too much time on the Internet. The company employs 20 people.
"But I will also look at whether they are taking short lunches or working a few extra hours," he said. "If the productivity is there, I may not really care."
At Community Medical Centers, blocking online shopping sites has its challenges, said George Vasquez, director of technical services.
Some online retailers are used by the hospital to purchase office supplies.
"We really try to select sites that we need to block the most, those that you don't want anyone to get to," Vasquez said.
Community also restricts its Internet access. Of the 6,500 employees, about one-third have access.
Vasquez said people should use common sense and know what the company's Internet-use policy is and the consequences of violating it.
"You have to hope that people are busy enough that they don't have time to do this," Vasquez said. "But that isn't always the case."
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune contributed to this report. The reporter can be reachedat brodriguez@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6327.
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Source: The Fresno Bee
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