SmallBusinessNewz

comScore has reported some interesing findings on e-commerce spending for the first 22 days of the November-December holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $8.21 billion has been spent online, marking a 2-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

"The beginning of the online holiday shopping season has gotten off to a positive start, which is a nice improvement over the slightly negative growth rates we’ve experienced through much of 2009," said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. "Nonetheless, online spending this holiday season will likely be tempered by the stark reality of 10-percent unemployment and less disposable income in many consumers’ wallets."

Look at these charts:

"After weathering the challenge of negative growth rates throughout much of the year, we are finally forecasting a return to positive growth at a rate of 3 percent for the 2009 holiday season," added Fulgoni. "However, we need to realize that this year’s expected growth rate reflects the rapid deceleration in online consumer spending that occurred during the last two months of 2008, making comparisons to the year ago time period more favorable for the current holiday season."

comScore thinks spending will reach $28.8 billion for the season, representing a 3 percent gain versus year ago.

Think about reviews. Another recent survey as we reported on last week found that of those who integrated reviews into their business web sites, 43 percent indicated an increase in sales and 28 percent said they experienced an increase in traffic.

"Research clearly shows that peer reviews increase consumer trust when shopping online," said Neal Creighton, CEO of RatePoint. "Small businesses who have implemented reviews on their site are uniquely positioned to stand apart this holiday season as shoppers look to transact with sites and brands they can trust."

"Reviews help small business owners learn more about how customers use their products, find latent issues with their site or shopping process they hadn’t yet discovered and most importantly, find satisfied customers whose positive feedback will build trust with potential customers," he added. "Missing out on all of the information and opportunities that reviews provide is something that small businesses simply can’t afford to do."
Clearly, people are willing to spend this holiday season. If you have some reviews, the chances that they spend with you may just increase.