Survey: Most e-commerce companies expect better holiday sales

Dallas -- A survey released Tuesday by Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., found that online companies are expecting the 2012 holiday shopping season to be better than last year.



According to the Chase Paymentech eHoliday Shopping Monitor, 59% of e-commerce companies surveyed expect better sales volume this season than in 2011, while almost half (47%) expect it to be better than pre-recession levels in 2007.



This survey arrives ahead of the Chase Holiday Pulse, which, for the seventh year, will present actual aggregated daily payment processing activity for 50 U.S. online retailers.



“E-commerce payment activity provides a unique window into the country’s economic health during the busiest shopping season of the year,” said Mike Duffy, president of Chase Paymentech.  



Nearly half (45%) of the companies surveyed expect to see an increase in their e-commerce sales over last year, and 53% expect their e-commerce holiday sales to remain similar to last year. On average, these companies expect more than half (51%) of their holiday sales to come from e-commerce. While the e-commerce cash register rings, mobile commerce is expected to account for only 6% of holiday sales.



However, nearly half (45%) do not believe average ticket prices will change from last year and only 39%) expect average ticket prices to be higher.



Despite the expectations for a strong shopping season, the e-commerce companies surveyed expect that they will face some marketing challenges over the coming months. More than half (52%) indicated “reaching new customers” would be “significantly challenging,” followed by “offering competitive pricing” (25%) and “reaching return customers” (23%).



Of those who plan to use digital promotions, companies said Facebook (86%) and Twitter (70%) are the social media sites they plan to use most to reach customers.



The vast majority (65%) surveyed believe the 2012 shopping season will have a positive impact on the U.S. economy. Overall, 80% say the U.S. economy will either remain the same or improve over the next 12 months, compared with only 20% expecting conditions to get worse.