The eBillme Online Spending Index, conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research, and to be released quarterly by eBillme, polled consumers to measure projected online spending for the quarter and the influencing factors including the economy, available payment options, security, and financial control. This quarter, the Index also polled consumers about their online spending for back-to-school shopping.
The economy and credit crunch are impacting consumer buying this quarter:
- Consumers plan to spend an average of $100-$250 online over the next 90 days
- 48 percent of consumers are delaying purchases due to uncertainty in the economy
- 32 percent of consumers are willing to spend more if they could purchase online with cash revealing a general shift towards preferring paying by cash
- Female consumers indicated a 5 percent decrease in credit card sentiment further indicating a shift towards cash
- 18 percent of consumers plan to shop online for back-to-school purchases
Play Q3 Online Spending Index Podcast
Commentary:
Marwan Forzley, President and CEO, eBillme
“Consumer spending online is an indicator for consumer preferences, attitudes, and offline trends in society. The Index results show a significant shift in consumer behavior, especially among female consumers. We have noticed that as compared to men, a higher percentage of women are concerned with fraud, identity theft and the economy. In fact, 38 percent of women said that they would purchase more online if they could control their finances and pay using cash.”
“We thought it was most important to bring this critical information to the retail industry and give online retailers a projection of consumer spending for the upcoming quarter and an opportunity to gain critical insight on customer behavior. We look forward to releasing this data quarterly to provide a snapshot of consumer online shopping activity and track the various trends that will be uncovered.”
The next Index will be released in November, 2008.
About the Index
The Index is based on data collected from an online consumer deployed in August 2008, with a sample size of 1608 respondents. The survey targeted US adults (age 18 +) and was based on representative proportions of gender, ethnicity and income as compared to the overall US online population. Overall margin of sampling error is ±4.4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
