When it comes to shopping, Debbie Christian is a classic procrastinator.
Each year, the 47-year-old legal secretary from Maryland waits until the last possible moment to buy her holiday gifts, then pays the price when store lines are long and the traffic excruciating.
JoAnn Christensen gathers items in an Amazon.com shipping facility. Online sales the week before Christmas rose 53 percent from last year.
(Scott Sady -- Associated Pres)
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But this year was different. Though she started as late as ever, with a few clicks of the mouse, she sent scarves, pocketbooks and shoes flying to relatives across the country -- all online and all on time.
"I was a little nervous," Christian said, noting the gifts were timed to arrive on Christmas Eve. "But everything worked out perfectly. I didn't have to worry about the crowds."
Christian's spree helped contribute to a record holiday season for online merchants, one in which sales stayed strong late into December as more consumers put their trust in the Web to get last-minute gifts under the tree. They also turned to options such as ordering gifts online and picking them up at stores and made increasing use of online gift cards and other items that could be delivered by e-mail.
Online retailers sold $14.8 billion worth of goods and services between Nov. 1 and Dec. 26, a 29 percent increase over the comparable period in 2003, according to statistics released this week by ComScore Networks, which tracks online spending. The increase was particularly pronounced in the week before Christmas, when online sales hit $1.22 billion, 53 percent higher than the corresponding week last year.
"We expected a solid season," said ComScore senior vice president Daniel E. Hess. "But the results for the final two weeks are far beyond our expectations."
Online retailers have traditionally been shut out of much of the last-minute-gift business because of the uncertainty associated with ordering a present on the Web and having it delivered. Hess attributed this year's late-season surge to the public's growing confidence that online retailers will deliver their products on time. Memories are fading of past seasons in which certain online merchants failed to make good on their holiday promises, he said. Businesses, meanwhile, continue to push back their ordering deadlines and succeed in getting packages delivered on time.
"Retailers, and their shipping partners like FedEx and UPS, have really stepped up," he said.
The late strength of online sales mirrored the trend for retailers overall this holiday season. Sales in November were disappointing, spawning fears that Christmas 2004 would be less than joyous for merchants. But the procrastinators showed up with a vengeance in late December and managed to provide most retailers with strong results and needed momentum heading into the new year.
