RICHMOND HILLS, Ontario – A recent poll commissioned by Yahoo! Small Business and conducted by research firm Harris Interactive has found that a large chunk of holiday shoppers will be buying their gifts online from small businesses.

A total of 2,766 U.S. adults were surveyed to measure the sentiment among the general online adult population about holiday shopping online. Seventy-six per cent respondents said they would buy online this holiday season, while 75 per cent said they are likely to purchase from small businesses.

Meanwhile, 30 per cent said they would do half or more of their holiday shopping online, and 63 per cent said online specialty, niche or boutique retailers are one of the best places to shop for unusual or hard-to-find gifts. Fifty-five per cent of respondents who plan to shop for holiday gifts online said it was important for their favorite specialty or gift stores to have an online presence.

When shopping online, 76 per cent of respondents said a trusted, secure online payment system such as PayPal would be most important for an overall positive experience. The same percentage of respondents said ease in navigating the site to browse, get information and make purchases would top their list, while a simplified customer checkout process came in third at 58 per cent.

Jimmy Duvall, director of e-commerce for Yahoo! Small Business in Sunnyvale, Calif., said general customer concerns about online shopping have declined over the years.

In the earliest days of e-commerce, credit card information was a key concern, and while identity theft and privacy are still important considerations these days, “most key market research firms predict a substantial increase in holiday shopping online, which suggests that e-commerce businesses have been effective in assuring shoppers that their purchases are safe and secure,” Duvall said. “We think the retailing technology industry has made great strides in developing secure online payment systems, and in the process (has won) the trust of millions of consumers who routinely shop online.”

Small businesses, many of which lack the stature of major brand retailers such as Sears or Target, are especially dependent on e-commerce and payment systems that can deliver the security — as well as convenience — that matches that of very large retailers is key, said Duvall.

As for easy checkout, consumers are very comfortable and savvy when it comes to shopping online, but they can also be demanding and impatient, Duvall said. “No one likes to wait in a very long line to make routine purchases at a retail store. Likewise, shoppers online have high expectations for a streamlined and simple checkout process.” He noted that Yahoo! revamped its own checkout system for its 40,000 merchants several months ago to give merchants greater flexibility in deploying a customer checkout process that best fits their specific business needs.

Free shipping turned out to be a major enticement for making online purchases, with 90 per cent of survey respondents making it their top choice. Meanwhile, while 69 per cent cited online discounts as an incentive and 64 per cent noted that free or no-hassle return policies were also key considerations.

As for getting the attention of holiday shoppers, most respondents who plan to shop online said recommendations from friends and family (60 per cent) and search engines (57 per cent) were 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 per cent), online banner or display advertising (10 per cent), as well as blogs and social media Web sites such as video sharing and social networking (six per cent).

Twenty per cent of online shoppers said they will do holiday shopping online while at work. Men were somewhat more likely to shop while on the job at 24 per cent, compared to 17 per cent of women. Age also makes a difference: according to the survey, 26 per cent of younger workers, those between the ages of 18 and 44, said they would shop online at work, compared to 13 per cent of those in the 45 and older category.

This column was written by Patricia Pickett of ConnectIT