Big-spenders to boost online furniture sales this Christmas

27th November 2009 | retail | Internet furniture sales will rocket this Christmas according to research showing the number of shoppers willing to spend £1,000 on a single item online has doubled in the past year.

Many furniture retailers with an online store say Christmas Day is their busiest of the year, but customer resistance to spending on big-ticket items has curtailed sales in the past.

But an annual survey by GSI Commerce says the number of shoppers who now say they are willing to spend over £1,000 on the Internet on a single purchase has increased to 25% - compared to just 12% at the same time last year.

There has also been a fall in the number of people who say they will cap their spend at £250 or less per product online, from 48% to 32%.

The research forms part of GSI's 2009 Consumer eTail Report, which examines consumer online spending habits and year on year changes. Other findings cite lengthy online registration processes and complex, multi-page payments, as being the two main barriers to a consumer completing an online purchase.