Online shopping increases over holiday
U.S. Internet retail revenue up 2% for Thanksgiving, Black Friday
By Danny King -- Video Business, 12/1/2008
DEC. 1 | U.S. online retail spending for Thanksgiving Day and the following day rose 2% from a year earlier, as many shoppers who were waiting for bargains earlier in the month to cope with the economic downturn were lured into holiday shopping by Internet discounts. Total holiday spending remains lower than last year because the increase failed to offset a shopping decline for most of last month.
Consumers spent $288 million online in Thanksgiving Day, up 6% from a year earlier, and $534 million on so-called Black Friday, marking a 1% increase, ComScore said in a report yesterday.
"It’s probable that on Black Friday, consumers responded positively to the very aggressive promotions and discounts being offered in retail stores," ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement.
The ComScore results are consistent with a survey from the National Retail Federation that says both online and offline spending this past weekend was up from last year. About 172 million consumers shopped either in stores or on the Internet between Thanksgiving Day and yesterday, up 17% from a year earlier, while average spending per shopper increased 7.2% as shoppers bought more electronics items and clothing, according to the NRF. About 85 million people will shop online today, up 18% from last year, the NRF said in a separate report .
Retailers are hoping that such promotions will increase Internet spending for today, referred to as Cyber Monday, and for the next few weeks by enough of an amount to offset the online-spending decline for most of last month. Online spending on retail goods, excluding travel, for the 28 days ended Nov. 28 declined 4% from a year earlier to $10.41 billion, said ComScore, which forecast online holiday spending will be flat this year.
Year-to-year increases in Cyber Monday online spending have nearly mirrored that of the entire holiday season, ComScore said. Last year, Cyber Monday Internet spending surged 21% from a year earlier, and shoppers spent 19% more online during last year’s holiday season than 2006’s holiday season.
Last week, a number of survey-based reports said consumers were either waiting longer to start their holiday shopping in order to find better deals or cutting back on certain categories altogether.
Many shoppers who had earlier considered buying large flat-screen TVs or high-end digital cameras are now unlikely to do so, NPD Group said. ABI Research said 87% of those surveyed will spend the same or less during the holidays than they spent a year ago, with just 8% of those polled saying they planned to buy a Blu-ray Disc player.
ComScore didn’t break out specific retail categories for its Internet sales figures.
