WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Many shoppers feeling the pinch from high energy costs are going online instead of to the mall. More than one out of every three online households said rising energy prices would alter their holiday shopping this season, a survey released Wednesday reported.
According to the Conference Board and TNS in their "Consumer Internet Barometer," more than half of all consumers will make fewer trips to the mall, while more than one out of every three plan to cut back their spending to combat costs. And, in a plus for the e-commerce industry, some 30 percent will do more of their holiday shopping online instead of in stores.
The Conference Board is a business membership and research organizations, and TNS is a market information group.
"Higher prices are driving more shoppers to the Internet instead of to the mall and changing the way consumers are doing their holiday shopping this year," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "But if energy prices recede, there is no guarantee these consumers will return to the malls. They may very well continue to point, click and ship instead."
The survey covered 10,000 households.
According to the Conference Board/TNS survey, consumers with "modest earnings" -- under $35,000 -- are being most impacted by high energy costs and report changes in their shopping behavior driven by high costs. Nearly 53 percent of modest earners say that because of high costs their first recourse will be to make fewer trips to the store. More than 22 percent plan to shop more online to help defray the impact of rising energy costs.
Also, the survey reported that nearly a third will curtail their spending per person and 27 percent will reduce the number of people on their shopping list.
The Conference Board also reported that "Even among more affluent households, with incomes over $75,000 annually, more than 60 percent plan to make fewer trips to traditional 'bricks and mortar' stores than in the past."
Out of the 30 percent of all online households who said they will shop more online to help ease the energy crunch, many still plan to spend a lot. The survey reported that more than half say they plan to spend less than $250 online, an additional 31 percent intend to spend $250 to $499, and the remaining 18 percent intend to spend $500 or more online.
For those who say they will be shopping online to help combat energy prices, more than 47 percent plan to buy books, apparel and shoes online instead of in stores as they would have done in seasons past. The survey added that not far behind on the shopping list are DVDs/videos/movies and toys and games -- at 44 percent and 39 percent, respectively, and more than one-third say they will purchase gift certificates online rather than in stores.
Survey respondents were not asked if they were determining gift purchases by who was naughty or nice.
