Survey: Most Women Now Shopping Online

Yonkers, NY, May 23, 2007--For women, online shopping isn’t just about browsing; it’s about putting money where their mouse is.  A new poll conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center for ShopSmart magazine, the new shopping magazine from the publishers of Consumer Reports, finds that nearly all (96%) of American women who have shopped online in the past 12 months have purchased at least one product over the Web. Most online shoppers (57%) do both their product research and shopping online while a sizeable proportion do their research online and then go to a store to buy (31%).

 “But, despite the fact that women seem to be so comfortable with online shopping, ShopSmart’s poll results show that there are still a lot of ‘gotchas’ out there,” said Lisa Lee Freeman, editor-in-chief of ShopSmart.  “That’s why the new issue of ShopSmart includes must-read tips and advice to arm these time-starved women. This way they can shop smarter and safer online.”

The ShopSmart Online Shopping Poll finds:

Women Spend Time Shopping On The Internet, Among Online Shoppers…

· Women spend an average of 1.2 hours per week shopping online.

· More than half (52%) of the time devoted to shopping for non-grocery items in a typical week is online.

. Nearly one in five (18%) working women admit that they do most of their online shopping during work hours.

· But, most online shopping is usually done between the hours of 5PM and 12AM (54%).

· Time spent shopping online is about shopping for themselves (51%), whereas time spent shopping in stores is more often focused on family members or others (56%).

· Despite the amount of time women are spending online, one-third (32%) of women who have shopped online in the past year said they had a negative experience.

· Among those women, 20% said they never got the item they ordered. Another 13% said the merchandise was very different than represented.

· And 451,588 American women claimed to have had their credit card number stolen online in the last 12 months.

 On average the most ever spent for an item online was $397 and 15% have spent $1,000 or more.

In the past 12 months, more than one-quarter of women shopping online have spent more than $1,000, and 9% have spend $2,500 or more,

What is the top item women won’t buy online?  17% of women say they would never consider buying food on the Web followed by clothing (14%), shoes (8%) and jewelry (7%).

ShopSmart Online Shopping Poll Methodology

The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a telephone survey of a nationally representative probability sample of telephone households.  427 interviews were completed among adults aged 18+. Interviewing took place over February 22-26, 2007. The margin of error is +/- 4.8% points at a 95% confidence level.