PalatnikFactor.com

All is Positive for Online Retailers in December

December 10, 2008 by Pablo Palatnik

Whoever said the economy was in bad shape? Well, of course it is, but for online retailers, its not all negative news coming from the current economy. While retail stores suffer from decrease in sales, online etailers are still seeing growth from last years sales which is VERY POSITIVE given the current circumstances.

From an Internet Retailer post, “growing 9% year over year for the first five days in December after being down 4% for the first three weeks of November, reports comScore Inc., which tracks Internet activity.

A 15% increase on the Monday after Thanksgiving propelled the rest of the work week (Monday through Friday) to a 9% gain in sales over the same period a year ago, enough to place the holiday shopping season so far on a par with last year, comScore reports.

Online sales for Dec. 1 to 5 reached $3.74 billion from $3.42 a year earlier. On Monday, sales were up 15% over the Monday after Thanksgiving a year earlier—$846 million vs. $733 million. For the rest of the week, sales were $2.89 billion, up from $2.68 billion, 8%, compared to the same four days a year earlier.

With sales of $846 million, Monday, Dec. 1, was the second heaviest day in online shopping history, comScore reports. Tuesday experienced sales of $823 million.

For Nov. 1 to Dec. 5, sales totaled $14.92 billion, comparable to last year’s $14.90 billion.”

Here are some interesting stats from that article as well:

The fastest growing product categories from Dec. 1 to 5 were Sport & Fitness, up 35%, and Consumer Electronics, up 24%. With a 16% increase in online sales, Apparel & Accessories, the second largest retail category in terms of dollar sales, also experienced strong gains. ComScore reports the following growth in e-retail dollar sales for Dec. 1 to 5:

• Sport & Fitness, 35%
• Consumer Electronics, 24%
• Apparel & Accessories, 16%
• Toys, 16%
• Books & Magazines, 10%
• Video Games, Consoles & Accessories, 9%
• Computer Hardware, 2%
• Home, Garden & Furniture, 0%
• Flowers, Greetings & Gifts, -8%
• Jewelry & Watches, -22%
• Music, Movies & Videos, -24%