Three out of four (76 percent) holiday shoppers said they plan to shop for holiday gifts online, and a similar number, 75 percent, said they are likely to purchase gifts online from small businesses, according to a new survey commissioned by Yahoo! Small Business and conducted in October by Harris Interactive®. Shoppers expressed strong support for e-commerce with small businesses that offer a secure payment system, easy customer checkout and free shipping.

Nearly a third of holiday shoppers (30 percent) said that they would do half or more of their holiday shopping online, and nearly two thirds (63 percent) said online specialty, “niche,” or boutique retailers are one of the “best places” to shop for unusual or hard-to-find gifts.

Safe and Easy
The survey results offer important clues for small businesses in gaining trust, and ultimately, sales from consumers. More than half (55 percent) of those who plan to shop for holiday gifts online said it was important for their favorite specialty or gift stores to have an online presence. Shoppers also expressed strong support for an online shopping experience that is both simple and secure, as shown by the responses to this question:

If shopping at a small business online, what features would you find most important for an overall positive experience?
Trusted, secure online payment system (such as Paypal) 76%
Ease in navigating the site to browse, get information and make purchases 76%
Simplified customer checkout process 58%
Easy registration process 52%
24-hour customer services 47%
Attractive, professionally designed Web pages 39%
Other 7%

What I Like about You
Online holiday gift shoppers overwhelmingly consider free shipping an important enticement in making purchases, with discounts and free return policies also key considerations. This was revealed in the answers to this query:

When you are shopping online for holiday gifts, what special incentives or offers are most likely to entice you to buy from an online small business?
Free shipping 90%
Online discounts 69%
Free or no-hassle return policy 64%
Free gift wrapping service 27%
Gift certificates 24%
Other 4%
None 3%

As for getting the attention of holiday shoppers, most of those U.S. adults who plan to shop online said recommendations from friends and family (60 percent) and search engines (57 percent) are top influencers in identifying small online businesses for holiday gift buying. Other important influencers or information sources include advertising on radio, in newspapers and on television (28%), online banner or display advertising (10%), blogs and “social media” Web sites such as video sharing and social networking (6%).

Some Call it Multi-tasking
One-fifth (20 percent) of online holiday shoppers said they will do holiday shopping online while at work. Men are somewhat more likely to shop while on the job, with nearly one out of four (24 percent) saying they would shop online at work, compared to 17 percent of women. In addition, younger workers are more likely to shop online at work. According to the survey, one-fourth (26 percent) of those age 18-44 said they would shop online at work, compared to 13 percent of those age 45 and older.

Yahoo Inc. today launched a redesigned Yahoo Shopping site that makes it easier for consumers to quickly find and compare products, including a new Bargains Center which aggregates sales, coupons, free shipping offers and rebates from across the Internet. The redesigned site also integrates Yahoo Answers, a Q&A site which gives shoppers access to other shoppers’ experience and advice.

“When we asked people, as part of our research, what they wanted from Yahoo Shopping, it boiled down to three things: a great deal, learn from other people’s experiences before they buy, and find products quickly and easily,” says Chris Saito, senior director. A recent Yahoo study found that 60% of Yahoo Shopping users consider themselves bargain hunters.

Full article at internetRetialer, click here

You’ll need to make changes by September 1st, please read below

Transition to the Unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program
The Yahoo! Affiliate Program combines all the products and services that Yahoo! offers affiliates into one program. When you join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program you will be able to earn commission from multiple Yahoo! Properties at the same time. You can promote just one, or all of the Yahoo! Properties listed below.

Yahoo! Small Business
Yahoo! Music Jukebox
Yahoo! Instant Messenger Download
Yahoo! Music Unlimited New increase in commission!
Yahoo! Personals
Yahoo! Autos
Yahoo! Games

Furthermore, you can access links, marketing materials, and product information for a multitude of great Yahoo! products and services… all in one place!

How will this impact your current Yahoo! Small Business commissions?
The move will not change the current rate card or cookie duration. You will continue to be paid the same for your performance.

If you drive traffic with paid search advertising, the change to the unified program will introduce new limitations for your campaigns. *Please see the Paid Search Advertising section below.

What do you need to do to continue promoting Yahoo! Small Business?
In order to continue selling Yahoo! Small Business products you will need to apply to join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program and update your Yahoo! Small Business links by September 1, 2006. If you do not update your links, you will not receive commissions for sales after September 1st.

1) Join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program
• To join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program, click here to join the Yahoo! Affiliate Program now! click here to join the Yahoo! Affiliate Program now!
• If you are already joined to the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program, just accept the new program terms that we have sent you.

2) Update your current Yahoo! Small Business links
• Replace all Yahoo! Small Business links you are currently using with new links that can be found in the Yahoo! Affiliate Program link library by September 1, 2006.

$1.99 Yahoo! Domains Promotion

Starting August 4th, Yahoo! Domains will be launching a $1.99/first year promotion. This discounted price will be provided for the first year only and only one discounted domain will be offered per customer. All renewals will be at the full price of $9.95/year. When promoting this offer, you need to include the 1st year disclaimer when offering the price. Examples include:
• $1.99 / 1st yr
• $1.99 / first year
• $1.99 / 1st year

Paid Search Advertising

With the move to the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program, we need to align with the corporate program Paid Search policies. You’ll need to adjust your campaigns to align with the restrictions below no later than September 1st.

Ban on Trademark bidding: You will not longer be able to bid or be displayed on Yahoo! trademark search terms including variations of Yahoo! and all of its services. In addition to not submitting trademark terms for bidding, you’ll need to include Yahoo! as a negative keyword for all broad matching. For more details please review the new Yahoo! Terms of Service.

No use of Yahoo! in your main URL: URLs such as yahoooo.com, yahoosmallbusinessolutions.com or www-yahoodomains.com will continue to be prohibited. However, use of Yahoo! after “.com” such as smallbusinessolutions.com/yahoo is acceptable.

We realize that you may have additional questions, and want to make sure we help you be as successful as possible. Therefore, please feel free to contact us with any inquiries you may have. To learn more about the Yahoo! Affiliate Program, please visit http://advertising.yahoo.com/affiliate_programs/index.html.

Best regards,
The Yahoo! Affiliate Team