Ever Green Monday
Just 15 percent of internet users will avoid doing any of their Christmas shopping online this year, according to a new survey.
Around 85 percent of people from across the globe will fill up their virtual shopping baskets online, with 71 percent of online shoppers avoiding the crowds and doing most of their Christmas shopping via the web, according to F-Secure's survey, which questioned 340 people from across the world in November this year.
It found that 60 percent of people said they ‘definitely planned' on shopping oline, while 25 percent said they ‘might' choose a digital shopping cart over a real one.
While the 13th of December was the busiest internet shopping day of the year, the rush is still on to finish internet shopping in time for the big day, with many sites guaranteeing delivery before Christmas for orders placed before this Friday.
According to Venturebeat, so-called Green Monday attracted $954m of online sales in the US, up 12 percent from last year.
Market research firm, com.Score estimated that consumers a massive $23.82bn online in the US in the first 43 days of the December to November Christmas shopping season.
With the rush on to find the perfect gift, F-Secure's survey found almost 4 in 5 people surveyed used search engines to track down possible presents for the best price, which the security firm warns could put users at risk from SEO attacks that can lead to phishing scams and malware. It also said consumers could be duped by some convincing sites pretending to offer too-good-to-be-true bargains.
The report found Facebook is even a destination for online bargain-hunters, with 1 in 3 internet users planning on using the social network to track down deals.
F-Secure Security Advisor Sean Sullivan, warned: "But the pursuit of bargains can lead some shoppers to take unnecessary risks. The most popular search terms of the season often become lures used by cybercriminals. So be especially careful when searching for the gifts everyone has to have."
According to the shoppers surveyed, the most popular gift this year is Apple's iPad, followed by the Kinect for the Xbox 360.
Sullivan suggested that people stick to sites they trust and use search tools on them to avoid dodgy search results.
"When you're not sure where a product is available, avoid unethical marketers and cybercrooks by using specialised search tools such as Google Product Search instead of a general Google search," he suggested.
Despite scares, the report reassuringly found that almost three quarters of savvy shoppers check that a website is secure before giving it their bank digits.
