Shoppers report online success this holiday season

Holiday shopping can often be something of a nightmare, but the internet has worked its Christmas magic this year, with shoppers reporting few problems with online purchasing, new figures show.

According to a Digital Citizens Alliance survey, almost eight in ten Americans (79 percent) have bought a gift online this holiday season, and for the overwhelming majority it has been a stress-free experience with packages arriving as promised and few issues with dreaded credit card fraud.

According to the Zogby Analytics poll commissioned by Digital Citizens, only five percent of Americans report that a gift didn't arrive by the promised delivery time. Eighty-two percent report the happy news that their gifts arrived on time while 12 percent reported still waiting, but it was well within the promised delivery slot.

Shoppers between 18-24 years old are the biggest gift-buying procrastinators, according to the survey, with 22 percent claiming to be still waiting for a gift to arrive on time within the last week of holiday shopping.

One in nine Americans report receiving a credit card fraud alert this holiday shopping season, but less than half of that group said it was because their credit card was compromised. And despite that, 22 percent claim online shopping seemed safer this year, while 57 percent said it was about as safe as previous years. Only 13 percent thought it was less safe than in previous years.

The Digital Citizens survey of 1,002 Americans was conducted from December 17-18, 2014 and has a margin of error of 3.2 percent. For full results, please go to digitalcitizensalliance.org.