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By Laura Rush

According to the survey, many American consumers will continue to contact retailers through traditional phone (74 percent) and store (47 percent) channels. However, online channels such as e-mail (26 percent), Web sites (15 percent) and instant messaging (8 percent) are quickly becoming many consumers' preferred method of handling customer service issues. 

It's no secret that consumers feel that the quality of customer service impacts their purchasing decisions. And nobody likes to wait during the busiest time of year. Therefore, if merchants are going to cater to their customers' needs, then providing multi-channel customer service options this holiday season should become a top priority. 

The survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by CRM provider RightNow Technologies, revealed that retailers should expect a 60 percent spike in overall service inquiry volume during the holiday selling season (November and December). Adding to the burden of increased volume is the high expectation consumers have for inquiry response time. 

What can a small business merchant do to reduce the volume of service inquiries and ensure consumer satisfaction? For starters, merchants don't need to run out and add costly CRM software to their online storefronts over the next few weeks. More cost-effective and less time-consuming solutions are available. For example, merchants should focus on reducing the volume calls by using searchable self-service tools such as knowledge bases or FAQs. They should also consider using this type of tool as a supplement to e-mail support. These self-service tools will ultimately lower contact volume, which in turn may help reduce the amount of temporary customer service staff online retailers may need to employ through the holiday season. 

For those merchants who will be beefing up their call centers and online customer support staff, the Harris Poll also revealed that the majority of American consumers (68 percent) said less than five minutes is acceptable for responding to phone inquiries and nearly half (48 percent) said less than five hours is acceptable for responding to e-mail or Web site inquiries. 
By strategically using online service solutions such as knowledge bases or FAQs, merchants can realize substantial cost savings: According to Harris Interactive, a typical human-assisted service phone call and e-mail transaction cost $7 and $2.25, respectively. 

Holiday Sales Crunch Will Occur Two Weeks Before Santa's Big Night 

Online retailers can breathe easy for a few more weeks... then the real madness begins. Results from the Atlas Institute's third-annual holiday shopping study, released this week, revealed that the online holiday shopping season peaks approximately 10-to-14 days before Christmas, compressing what has been a crucial season for online retailers. 

In its study, Atlas has also compiled some other interesting findings about past online holiday shopping behavior that small business merchants can use to gauge future trends:
 

• Mondays were the most popular shopping days online, which is indicative of weekend offline shopping and weekday comparison and bargain online shopping. 
• The most active online shopping day last year was December 10 -- 47 percent higher than the average holiday shopping day. 
• Weekdays remain the most active for online shoppers during the holidays, peaking between noon and 3 p.m. EST. 

• Focus marketing efforts on the first two weeks of the month; advertising dollars spent during the week of Dec. 8-12, will be the most efficient. 
• Tailor holiday online advertising messages to the at work audience, especially since weekdays remain the most active for online shoppers. 
• Emphasize ease and speed of shipping in messaging. Let shoppers know they still have time beyond the middle of December to shop, purchase and receive orders in time for Christmas. 
• Offline will drive online. Retailers operating multi-channel stores (online and offline components) can expect that those shoppers who didn't purchase in an actual brick-and-mortar store over the busy weekend may buy online after the weekend. 

So, now that you know when shoppers will be burning up the fiber optic lines, credit cards in hand, and how to keep them happy, it may help to know just how much money they'll be parting with, and what factors will motivate them to buy from your online store. 

According to Jupiter Research (a division of this site's corporate parent), it's going to be a busy holiday season, as shoppers will take to the Net, buying and spending more than they did in previous years. Jupiter expects 2003's online holiday sales to be led by new shoppers, resulting in a 21 percent increase over 2002. 

According to the firm's holiday shopping report, nearly 40 percent of surfers plan to do some or all of their holiday gift buying online, ringing up an average of $265 per person. 

Online merchants who cater to seasoned online shopping veterans will be pleased to know that Patti Freeman Evans, retail analyst at Jupiter Research, found a correlation between online tenure and e-commerce. Freeman Evans noted that longer term Internet usage contributed to shopping confidence. 

For multi-channel retailers, the influx of new online shoppers isn't expected to make a significant dent in other retailing methods, as Freeman Evans found that consumers are using channels in tandem. "Shoppers are leafing through catalogs and then going online and using electronic order forms for their purchases." The multi-channel method is one more way to streamline the shopping process, explained Freeman Evans. The main motivation online shoppers cite is convenience, with a large percentage indicating that they shop when stores are closed. Others look to avoid holiday crowds or wrapping presents. 

Reasons Shoppers Cite for Buying Online

Save time by not going to store 70%
Can shop when stores are closed 69%
Avoid the holiday crowds  68%
Might be able to find better prices 59%
Can find products online more easily 52%
Find products not available in stores 50%
Easier to compare prices 47%
Have gifts sent directly to recipient 36%
Can avoid wrapping gifts 13%
Can earn loyalty points 13%
Purchase from wish list 10%

Source: Jupiter Research/IPSOS

Price will remain the primary driver when shoppers decide which e-tailers to patronize, but less so in 2003 than in 2002. In 2002, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of surveyed shoppers indicated that low price would influence their decision to buy from a certain online store -- that number dropped to 60 percent in 2003 -- and 56 percent cited low cost shipping options in 2002, but only 48 percent indicated the same influencer in 2003. Roughly one-third (32 percent) looked for stores that would ship products right away in 2002, but nobody cared about immediacy in 2003. This is likely due to Jupiter finding that 46 percent planned to buy gifts more than 4 weeks before holiday deadlines. 

Robyn Greenspan contributed to this report.