Online retailing will continue to grow this holiday season, with a record 71 percent of consumers spending at least part of their holiday budgets on the Internet, according to Deloitte's 23rd Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends. This figure is up five percentage points from 2004.

This popular medium for holiday gift shopping ranked #2 this year, behind discount department stores. More than one in five consumers (21 percent) surveyed plan to shop primarily or entirely online this holiday season (up from 19 percent last year), and almost one-quarter (24 percent) of total dollars are expected to be spent on the Internet, compared with 22 percent last year and only 19 percent in 2004.

The survey shows that difficult economic conditions are a factor in the Internet's continued growth. More than one-third (36 percent) of consumers say they will shop more online and in catalogs this year in order to save on gas. In addition, because of the economic environment, more than half (52 percent) will be on the lookout for free shipping offers from online retailers.

Consumers are also looking for retailers to provide them with flexibility this holiday season. Almost three-quarters of consumers (70 percent) surveyed will, for example, conduct online research in advance of a store visit. Almost one in 10 (9 percent) say they'll use their mobile phone to assist with online/in-store shopping; among 18-29 year olds, this number rises to almost two in 10 (17 percent). These expectations are an extension of existing shopper behaviors: over half of consumers (56 percent) say they have used multiple shopping channels over the past year, most often purchasing a product in one channel (store, website, catalog) after viewing or researching it on another channel.

Green Retailing Remains a Big -- and Growing -- Draw

The survey also found that the "green" movement continues to build momentum. More than four out of 10 consumers (44 percent) are willing to pay extra for green gifts this holiday season. Of those, half say they are willing to pay between 10 to 25 percent more, while the remaining half are willing to pay 5 percent more.

Additionally, almost four in 10 (38 percent) surveyed say they will use fewer plastic bags from supermarkets and other stores this year -- a significant increase over the 27 percent who said the same last year. One in five consumers (20 percent) say they will purchase more "eco-friendly" products this holiday season than they did in the past. A similar number (21 percent) say they will consider not wrapping holiday gifts to conserve paper.

Clothing Continues to Be a Popular Gift; Nintendo's Wii Takes Top Honors

For the fifth year, clothing continued to be the second-most-popular gift category in the survey (gift cards have been #1 for five years); however, the popularity of clothing has fallen over the past several years. CDs/DVDs for music and movies were again #3 and toys and games were #4. Money and books were tied at #5.

The top gifts that consumers said they intend to buy for friends and family include Nintendo's Wii gaming system, Apple's iPod (which has been in the top 3 since 2005), Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. Other top gifts included two computer games -- Wii Fit and Guitar Hero -- Apple's iPhone, Barbie, American Girl and Hannah Montana merchandise. The top "generic" gifts mentioned were televisions (HD, plasma, flat screen etc.), computers/laptops, GPS systems and digital cameras. As previously announced, the survey found that gift cards/certificates continued to be the #1 gift that consumers plan to buy; the top venues for these gift cards were Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target.