Yahoo Small Business put out a holiday shopping study conducted Harris Interactive yesterday, the most important point being that 90% of respondents said free shipping would entice them to buy from a small business online. Next down the line is online discounts which 69% said would entice them to shop at an online small business.

I’m going to take this next part straight from the press release because it’s Friday.

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%

I’m a big fan of number 2, usability. Varien knows that tricky navigation will turn away customers faster than…well, it’ll make them leave your site pretty fast. There’s at least 23% of retailers that should take a look at this survey.