And this holiday season, they’ve often gotten to enjoy both of them at the same time. Thus far this holiday season, online shopping purchases are up 4%, and the average discount on specially promoted gift items is a markdown of 26.4% off of the retail price, up 5.6% from last year.
Retail price, shmetail price, right? The trend this year is for online retailers to sell more and yet earn less per item sold, due to the big discounts that are grabbing shoppers’ attention in the first place. From the WSJ:
MyBuys Inc., which tracks sales by individuals at dozens of client sites to provide product recommendations, said that for the month of December through the 17th, the average discount on promoted items rose 5.6% to total 26.4%, compared to last year.
Apparently, a lot of shoppers aren’t done hunting for the very best deals either: Some 35% of folks are waiting for last-minute discounts before they call it quits for holiday purchases.