Online shoppers turn to departmental sites and share their experiences

More shoppers are turning to online venues in 2007 but you may be surprised who is benefiting the most. Department store websites, according to a recent report from online analytics firm Cormetrics, have seen the largest growth year over year. Department store ecommerce sites grew 37% YoY.

by Kristina Knight

Coremetrics tracked online sales for a twelve day period beginning the Monday prior to the US Thanksgiving holiday.

“Across the board our clients are experiencing year over year growth in traffic and in shopping,” said Joe Davis, CEO of Coremetrics.

Intimate apparel websites showed the second highest growth (19%) YoY and apparel sites showed the third highest growth (13%). Finally home websites have shown the least growth (6%) year over year.

Meanwhile, Nielsen//Netratings has found that many online shoppers are turning to reviews this holiday season, not for product information, but to relate their online shopping experiences. Etailers are likely to benefit from these experience reviews because more than half of those surveyed said the reviews either have been or will be positive.

While these reviews may come too late to benefit etailers during the 2007 holiday season, but it is likely to affect sales into the New Year.

Ken Cassar, vice president of industry solutions analytics, Nielsen Online. “The season also sets the stage for the upcoming year. Negative customer experiences can hamper growth significantly, especially in this age of Consumer-Generated media. . .This holiday season will provide a solid foundation for 2008 from a customer service perspective.”