Net looks forward to Christmas shopping spree

NEWS E-tailers can expect some seasonal cheer this year as web consumers around the world gear up to spend over $25bn in the run up to Christmas. Figures from the Gartner Group suggest that online shoppers plan to spend even more money than last year, despite threats of a worldwide recession and ongoing military action. Online sales are expected to increase 39 per cent this Christmas to $25.3bn. US consumers will spend up to $11.9bn, or 47 per cent of the total figure, an estimate that is in line with recent forecasts from Forrester Research. While US consumers spent 50 per cent less online in 2000 than they did the previous year - discouraged by the dismal customer service and delivery experiences of 1999 - 80 per cent of US customers this year said they intended to repeat last year's online shopping habits. European shoppers will fork out $8.58bn, almost 40 per cent more than the $6.15bn spent online in Europe last Christmas. David Schehr, a US based research director at GartnerG2, attributes the upward trend in online shopping to experienced repeat shoppers. And he added that traditional high street retailers should also benefit from a similar boom as other indicators - such as the jump in audiences attending broadway shows to pre-11 September levels - indicated that consumers were not beaten. "People are returning to old habits. Some of this may be bravado, but if you expect anyone to adopt a bunker mentality it's New Yorkers, and they're not," he said. Analysts watching the UK and European markets are also predicting an upturn in online and offline retail.