The Impact of Gas Prices on Online Shopping

One of the things we asked as part of our Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index was whether people planned to spend more or less online or offline next year, and why.

34% of our survey respondents planned to spend more online. When we asked what were the major factors influencing their online spending projections, 26% said personal finances, 16% said gas prices, 16% said online prices (probably better than offline prices), 14% said economic outlook. So gas prices were not the major influencer in projected online spend, but they were up there.

However, the data supports the idea that the weakening economy will benefit e-business in general, since nearly 34% plan to spend more online this year, and only 16% plan to spend more offline. Only 13% of respondents plan to spend less this year online, while 26% plan to spend less offline. Overall, this probably means the online channel holds considerably greater opportunity to capture sales in a tight economy.

Comments

[WearIt.com]

Interesting that the poll found personal finances outweighed gas prices. A survey run by iCongo and Harris Interactive in April of 2,000 adults showed that 33% of consumers in the US plan to shop more online because of higher gas prices. As shoppers begin to transition more online, it might also be worth tracking whether they tend to purchase newly released items or items on sale.

[Claire]

I like the way you are thinking about online shopping.

[Order Tadalafil]

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[Online pharmacy]

So gas prices were not the major influencer in projected online spend, but they were up there.