Online spending this holiday season jumps to $27 billion
Good news for retailers: Even in this down economy, online spending was up this holiday season.
ComScore is reporting that overall online shopping was up 5 percent over last year for the season between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24. This was in contrast to the 3 percent decrease that was seen last year. The total amount of money spent by Americans this year rose to $27 billion
“Online sales growth this year was driven by a continued increase in the number of people buying online,” said ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni, “but consumers’ economic challenges resulted in a slight decline versus last year in the amount spent per buyer.” Mr. Fulgoni offered further insights, “The season featured a strong start as a result of early retailer promotions and a very strong finish helped by the snow storms that occurred the weekend of Dec. 19 – 20, retailers’ willingness to offer free shipping later in the season, and consumers’ confidence in expedited shipping arriving in time.”
The area with the most growth was consumer electronics which was 20 percent, while jewelry and watches also saw increases in sales, although the latter pair saw weak performance last year.
“This was also a year when retailers substantially boosted their use of social network marketing. and the larger retailers significantly outperformed their smaller brethren,” said Mr. Fulgoni. He went on to say, ”In these tough economic times, the retailers with sufficient financial resources and a willingness to invest in aggressive marketing and free shipping offers were clear winners. In terms of individual product categories, consumer electronics saw particularly strong sales growth of slightly over 20 percent, while jewelry and watches also turned in a strong performance, but which followed a very weak 2008 season.”
As you can see in the chart below, only one benchmark day, Green Monday, was down from last year. It appears online retailers have a lot to be thankful for going into 2010.
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