Holiday shoppers have reported higher satisfaction with their online experience compared to the same time last year, according to the ForeSee Results Holiday Retail Benchmark.

Collected between Dec. 3-9 from more than 54,000 visitors at 40-plus retail Web sites, the ForeSee Results data found that online shopper satisfaction was 3.3% higher than during the same week in 2006.

"Customer satisfaction has rebounded to pre-holiday levels, a very encouraging trend for the 2007 holiday shopping season," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. "The combination of retailer readiness for the holiday rush and positive reaction to promotions has resulted in robust satisfaction, which should spell strong results for the holiday season and beyond."

The higher satisfaction for online shoppers could drive store and catalog sales. Internet shoppers from Dec. 3 to 9 were 4.1% more likely to buy offline than they were during the same week in 2006.

"The Web this year has truly come into its own as an integral channel to drive sales beyond the virtual world," Freed said. "Retailers have successfully integrated the Web into their multi-channel strategy so that it's a better sales channel and a better tool for increasing store and catalog sales."