Internet holiday spending fell last week

Consumer electronics decline offsets videogame increase

By Danny King -- Video Business, 12/22/2008

DEC. 22 | U.S. online retail spending fell last week as a decline in demand for consumer electronics, DVDs and CDs more than offset an increase in videogame sales, ComScore said in a report yesterday. Overall holiday spending might trail year-earlier figures because of fewer days between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas.

Customers spent $12.8 billion for the 19 days ended Dec. 19, up 1% from $12.7 billion a year earlier but down from the 2% year-over-year increase for the two weeks ended Dec. 14, ComScore said in a statement. Overall holiday season retail spending fell 1% to $20 billion.

Although average daily spending since Thanksgiving rose 5% from a year earlier, overall spending is down because there are five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, according to ComScore.

"The combination of the compressed holiday schedule and the challenging economic situation faced by many consumers means that retailers have their work cut out for them this season,” ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in the statement.

Consumer electronics sales via the Internet fell 9% from a year earlier for the 19 days ended Dec. 19 after being even for the first two weeks of the month, signaling that consumers have cut spending on components since being lured by sub-$200 Blu-ray Disc players and cheaper flat-screen TV sets during the week following Thanksgiving. DVD and CD sales remained down about 24%, while videogame sales surged 17%, up from the 9% year-over-year increase for the previous week, ComScore said.

The ComScore study appears to echo two NPD Group reports released last week that said Internet spending on consumer electronics surged for the two weeks of the holiday season, while overall December spending is likely to fall.

Internet sales of consumer technology products for the two weeks ended Dec. 6 jumped 19% from a year earlier, largely on higher demand for liquid-crystal display TVs and digital cameras, NPD said.

Meanwhile, about four out of five people polled planned to spend less this month than in December 2007, reflecting the belief by 55% of those surveyed that their financial circumstances will worsen next year, NPD said in a separate report released last week.

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