Weekly Holiday Internet Retail Sales Up 16%

The most recent week for holiday Internet sales, ended Dec. 25, saw a 16 percent increase in spending, year-over-year, to $2.8 billion, according to comScore, a company that measures digital data and provides digital business analytics.

The figure is an expected steep drop from the record-breaking $6.28 billion for the prior week, ended December 18, the last week where delivery of online orders could be guaranteed.

Retail e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season reached a record $35.3 billion, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. This increase has been consistent throughout the holiday season.

“Holiday e-commerce spending has remained strong throughout the season,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “We can now say with certainty that the $1.25 billion spent on Cyber Monday will rank it as the heaviest online spending day of the season for the second consecutive year, but we should also note that it was accompanied by nine other billion dollar spending days this year.”

The Reston, Va.-based company noted that over the past several years there has been a dramatic increase in Christmas Day purchases of digital content and subscriptions, a retail category that includes digital downloads of music, TV, movies, e-books and apps. As many consumers get new smartphones, tablets, e-readers and digital content gift certificates for Christmas, they spend Christmas Day loading up their devices with new content.

On an average day during the 2011 holiday season to date, digital content and subscriptions accounted for 2.8 percent of retail e-commerce sales, but on Christmas Day the category accounted for more than 20 percent of sales. Consistent with past years, comScore expects sales for this category of products to remain elevated throughout the entire week following Christmas Day.

Holiday Online Spending Sets Records

U.S. consumers spent an estimated $36.4 billion on e-Commerce, a 15.4 percent increase over the 2009 holiday season, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. However, jewelry, while making year-over-year gains, lagged behind other merchandise categories.

“Today eCommerce accounts for a much larger share of overall retail sales compared to a few years ago. And during this holiday season, it registered double digit growth for 6 out of 7 weeks,” said Michael McNamara, vice president, for the Purchase, N.Y.-based research arm of MasterCard, which measures sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for all other payments.

Apparel sales was the clear leader, accounting for 18.8 percent of total ecommerce sales, compared to 16.9 percent in 2009.

“Online electronics, not surprisingly, also recorded significant gains, while Jewelry, although still in positive territory, lagged behind, McNamara added.

Six days in the 2010 season surpassed $1 billion in sales compared with 3 days in 2009. The top day was November 30, which registered $1.16 billion in sales, followed by Dec. 1, which had $1.13 billion. The Monday after Thanksgiving, known as CyberMonday, a promotion of online retailers, generated $999.3 million in sales, a 25.3 percent increase, year-over-year.

Meanwhile, comScore, which measures consumer online spending, reports that consumers spent $28.36 billion online for the first 49 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season—a 12 percent increase, year-over-year. The most recent week reached $5.5 billion in spending, an increase of 14 percent versus the corresponding week last year. The final shopping weekend before Christmas reached $900 million in retail e-commerce spending, representing a strong 17-percent growth rate versus last year.

Spending growth has remained strong right through the final shopping weekend of the holiday season,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the Reston, Va.-based research company. “The growth rate of 17 percent witnessed during the final weekend capped off the heaviest online spending week of all time at $5.5 billion.”

‘Free Shipping Day’ Marks the Peak of a $30.9 Billion Holiday Online Spending Season to Date

For the first 46 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season, online spending increased 15 percent year-over-year to $30.9 billion, according to comScore, a company that measures digital data.

The most recent work week (Dec. 12-16) saw four individual days surpass $1 billion in online spending, led by Monday, December 12 with $1.13 billion and Friday, December 16 (known by the online retail industry as “Free Shipping Day”) with $1.07 billion, according to the Reston, Va.-based company. Free Shipping Day is, now in its fourth year, is a one-day, online-shopping event when thousands of merchants offer free shipping with delivery by Christmas Eve.

With the heaviest portion of the season over, Cyber Monday appears likely to rank as the heaviest online spending day of the year (at $1.25 billion) for the second consecutive season, said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman.

“More than $1 billion in spending on Free Shipping Day put the exclamation point on what will almost certainly be the heaviest week of the online holiday shopping season,” Fulgoni said. “While next week may see another strong day or two at the beginning of the week, it’s clear that we have now reached the crescendo for this season and that spending will begin to slow as we get closer to Christmas, leaving Cyber Monday as the top ranked shopping day for the second year in a row.”

Following a decline in the second week of December, free shipping rebounded during this most recent week, which concluded with Free Shipping Day, according to comScore’s analysis of e-commerce transactions. Each week of the online holiday season-to-date has seen free shipping occur on at least half of all transactions. For the five-day week ending with Free Shipping Day, the percentage of transactions with free shipping reached 56 percent, nearly 4 percentage points higher than the corresponding time period last year.

“Free shipping is undoubtedly one of the most important incentives for consumers and has become a key driver of online buying activity over the past few years,” Fulgoni said. “This season has seen a continuation of the trend where an increasing percentage of transactions involve free shipping, as more consumers demand it and more retailers provide it. During the week of Thanksgiving and Cyber Week we saw at least 3 in 5 transactions use free shipping, significantly higher rates than we’ve ever previously observed.”

Another $5.9 Billion Dollar Week for Online Holiday Sales

For the second consecutive week, online sales hit the $5.9 billion mark and saw growth rates remain in line with the season-to-date at 15-percent, reports comScore, which measures digital data.

In addition, the most recent week (ending December 9) had three days surpassing $1 billion in sales, the Reston, Va.-based company reports. For the holiday season-to-date, six individual days have surpassed the billion dollar threshold, led by Cyber Monday at $1.25 billion.

“These highlights represent another very positive sign for the holiday shopping season, said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. The week following ‘Cyber Week’ (which includes Cyber Monday the Monday after Black Friday) often experiences relative softness in spending momentum due to retailers pulling back on their promotional activity. As we enter what will be the heaviest week of the season for online retailers … all signs are now pointing to a strong finish to the season.”

This season has been a coming out of sorts for online retail. Since comScore began tracking e-commerce spending in 2001, seven individual shopping days have surpassed $1 billion in spending. Six of those days occurred this year. To date, Cyber Monday 2011 (Nov. 28) ranks as the heaviest online spending day in history at $1.25 billion. Leading off this most recent week of the holiday season, December 5, now ranks as the second heaviest spending day in history at $1.18 billion, followed by November 29 at $1.12 billion, and December 6 at $1.11 billion. Cyber Monday 2010 (Monday, November 29, 2010) rounds out the top five at $1.03 billion.

Retail e-commerce spending for the first 39 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season has reached $24.6 billion, a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

A Record-Setting Week for Online Holiday Sales

Online sales for the first full week of what is considered the true holiday shopping season grew 15 percent to a record $5.96 billion, according to comScore, a firm that measures digital data.

The week from November 28 (“Cyber Monday”) to December 2 had three individual days that saw more than $1 billion in online spending, led by Cyber Monday, which was the heaviest online spending day on record at $1.25 billion. November 29 reached $1.12 billion and November 30 reached $1.03 billion. These three billion dollar spending days currently rank as three of the four heaviest online spending days in history.

For the holiday season-to-date (November 1 – December 2 as measured by the Reston, Va.-based company), $18.7 billion has been spent online, a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

“As the deals from this week expire, it will be important to see the degree to which consumers return to the same retailers to continue their holiday shopping, thereby helping improve retailers’ profit margins, or if we experience a pullback in consumer spending—which has occurred in previous years—before promotional offers and spending intensity pick back up in earnest around mid-December,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

One of the most prevalent holiday season promotions used by online retailers is free shipping, which typically peaks around the Cyber Monday period. More than half of all transactions have included free shipping with rates increasing later into the season, comScore said. The week of Thanksgiving (week ending Nov. 27) saw free shipping occur on 64.4 percent of transactions, while this past week maintained a similar level at 63.2 percent. In each case, these rates were approximately 10 percentage points higher than last year.

“Free shipping is one of the most important incentives that online retailers must provide during the holiday season to ensure that shoppers will convert into buyers,” Fulgoni said.

More than one-third of respondents (36 percent) indicated that free shipping was “very important” and that they would not make a purchase without it, according to comScore’s annual holiday shopping survey. An additional 42 percent said that free shipping was “somewhat important” and that they actively seek out free shipping deals. Only 15 percent of respondents indicated that free shipping was not particularly influential in their purchase decision.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term created in 2005 by online retailers after learning that online shopping activity increased the Monday following Black Friday.

Record Setting Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday reached $1.25 billion in online spending in the U.S., up 22 percent year-over-year, representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the second day on record to surpass the billion-dollar threshold, according to comScore, a firm that specializes in measuring digital data.

“Cyber Monday was yet another historic day for e-commerce,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. “While last year saw Cyber Monday rank as the heaviest online spending day of the year for the first time ever, it will be interesting to watch the next couple of weeks to see if any future individual days in 2011 manage to leapfrog this year’s highest day-to-date.”

Cyber Monday’s sales growth was driven by an increase in both the number of buyers (up 11 percent) and the average spending per buyer (up 9 percent), the Reston, Va.-based firm said. Overall, 10 million people bought online on Cyber Monday, representing the first time on record that threshold has been reached in a single day. The average online buyer conducted 1.9 online transactions on Cyber Monday for a total of nearly $125 in spending.

Half of dollars spent online at U.S. Web sites originated from work computers, up slightly from last year, comScore reported. Buying from home comprised the majority of the remaining share (43.2 percent) while buying at U.S. Web sites from international locations accounted for 6.6 percent of sales.

For the first 28 days of the holiday season (November 1 – 28), $15 billion has been spent online, a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday. Shop.org, an association of multi-channel retailers was the first to use the term in 2005 after retailers discovered that online sales increased on that particular day. In 2006, Shop.org launched the CyberMonday.com portal, a one-stop shop for Cyber Monday deals. Cyber Monday is now one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

Black Friday Online Sales Total $816 Million, Cyber Monday Next

Black Friday saw $816 million in online sales, making it the heaviest online spending day to date in 2011 and representing a 26-percent increase versus Black Friday 2010, according to ComScore, a firm that measures digital data. Thanksgiving Day (November 24), while traditionally a lighter day for online holiday spending, achieved a strong 18-percent increase to $479 million.

Overall U.S. retail e-commerce spending for the first 25 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season, totaled $12.7 billion, a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

“Despite some analysts’ predictions that the flurry of brick-and-mortar retailers opening their doors early for Black Friday would pull dollars from online retail, we still saw a banner day for e-commerce,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “With brick-and-mortar retail also reporting strong gains on Black Friday, it’s clear that the heavy promotional activity had a positive impact on both channels.

Now the attention turns to Cyber Monday (tomorrow), a marketing term created in 2005 by online retailers after learning that online shopping activity increased the Monday following Black Friday. ComScore says 80 percent of retailers are having special online promotions that day. Last year sales exceeded $1 billion and it expects to see that figure shattered.

As the online channel increasingly influences offline-shopping behavior, consumers turned to Black Friday sites on the web to conduct research in advance of the day’s events, the Reston, Va.-based firm said. Bfads.net led the pack with 3.9 million unique visitors from November 21 to 25, up 51 percent versus last year, comScore said.

Fifty million Americans visited online retail sites on Black Friday, representing an increase of 35 percent versus year ago, comScore said. Each of the top five retail sites achieved double-digit gains in visitors vs. last year, led by Amazon. Walmart ranked second, followed by Best Buy, Target and Apple.

“It is telling that the top multi-channel retailers also showed strong growth in visitors, demonstrating the importance of the online channel to the retail industry as a whole,” Fulgoni said.

Consumers Online Spending Up 15% in Q3

Online retail spending for the third quarter increased 15 percent year-over-year to $41.9 billion, representing the 12th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, according to comScore, Inc.

Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the Reston, Va.-based company that specializes in measuring digital data, said the numbers are consistent with the prior quarter and confirm “the strength in the e-commerce sector, despite a few negative headwinds in the macroeconomic environment during the quarter. Such performance offers some optimism as we approach the holiday season, especially given recent improvements in consumer sentiment.”

He added, “With the housing market beginning to show signs of recovery in addition to increasing–if still underwhelming–job growth, there appears to be strong enough footing to support a very healthy online holiday shopping season.”

Other highlights from comScore’s Q3 2012 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates include:

* The top-performing online product categories, according to the survey were: Digital Content & Subscriptions, Consumer Electronics, Event Tickets, Apparel & Accessories, and Computer Software. Each category grew at least 16 percent year-over-year.

* About 37 percent of U.S. consumers say they have engaged in “showrooming” behavior where they use a smartphone while in a retail store to check prices or to purchase a product online, representing a 5-percent increase in the past two quarters.

* According to the survey, 48 percent of U.S. consumers now rate the economy as “poor” an 8-percentage point improvement vs. the prior quarter and the most pronounced improvement since early 2009.


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Q1 Online Retail Sales Up 12%

Rising gas prices and high unemployment have led to a 12 percent increase in online retail spending to $38 billion for the first quarter of 2011, according to comScore, which measures digital data. It’s the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.

“Domestic retail e-commerce built on the success of a strong 2010 holiday season with another encouraging quarter here in the first three months of the year,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the Reston, Va.-based company. “Faced with rapidly rising gas prices and stubbornly high unemployment, consumers continued to take advantage of the Internet’s lower prices by shifting their spending from offline retail stores. In fact, in the first quarter, the growth in e-commerce spending was roughly double that observed at offline retail. While we would expect online buying to dampen slightly if gas prices continue to eat into discretionary spending, it’s clear that e-commerce has become a mainstay in consumer behavior, driven by the attraction of both lower prices and convenience.”

Other first quarter highlights include:

* Video Games, Consoles & Accessories; Books & Magazines; Computers/Peripherals/PDAs; Consumer Electronics; and Computer Software (excl. PC Games) were among the top-performing online product categories. Each of the categories grew at least 13 percent in the first quarter.

* The top 25 online retailers accounted for 67.7 percent of dollars spent online, the same percentage as last year, and down from a peak of 70 percent in 2010 as small and mid-sized retailers regain lost market share.

* The 12-percent growth in the quarter was a function of an increase in number of buyers (up 7 percent) and transactions per buyer (up 9 percent), but accompanied by a slight decline in dollars per transaction (down 4 percent).

Holiday e-Commerce Spending Sets New Record

Retail e-commerce spending for the November–December 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, marking a 12-percent increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season, according to comScore Inc.

“The 2010 online holiday shopping season was a memorable one in which we saw spending rebound strongly from the recession of 2008 and 2009, and slightly exceed even our early expectations,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “We saw spending increase at a rate of 12 percent for the season, outpacing our forecasted 11-percent growth…. This year, retailers targeted many of their promotions even earlier than usual and reaped the benefits.”

For the first time since comScore began tracking e-commerce activity in 2001, Cyber Monday (Monday, Nov. 29) ranked as the heaviest online spending day of the year at $1.028 billion. Cyber Monday is a marketing promotion created in 2005 by Shop.org, a digital retail association. It is the first Monday after Thanksgiving. It also registers as the first online spending day on record to surpass the $1 billion spending threshold.

Green Monday (Monday, Dec. 13) ranked as the second heaviest day at $954 million. Green Monday is an online retail industry term created by eBay to describe the best sales day in December. ComScore defines it as the Monday with at least 10 days prior to Christmas.

Next largest spending day was Monday, December 6 at $943 million. Free Shipping Day (Friday, Dec. 17) ranked fourth at $942 million, while Thursday, December 16 rounded out the top five with $930 million. Eight days in total surpassed $900 million in spending this holiday

ComScore, Inc., Reston, Va., measures and analyzes digital data.

Congress Pours Coal Over An Otherwise Merry Christmas Season for Online Retailers

Retail e-commerce spending for the 2012 holiday season grew by 14 percent, year-over-year, to $42.3 billion, according to comScore, which measures digital data. However, the Reston, Va.-based firm said sales growth did not meet expectations and blamed the ‘fiscal cliff’ debate for causing consumers to be cautious spenders during the latter half of the season.

For the third year in a row, CyberMonday, the Monday after Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26 this year), was the heaviest online holiday spending day at $1.46 billion. The latter portion of the season saw several days with particularly strong growth, according to comScore, including Free Shipping Day (Dec. 17), up 76 percent to $1.01 billion and Christmas Day, up 36 percent to $288 million.

However, these performances on individual days could not make up for the spending growth shortfall earlier in December, the Reston,Va.-based firm said. The holiday season started off well but a December swoon in consumer confidence gave way to softer than expected buying during the critical shopping weeks in early to mid-December. Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, said the company expected a growth rate of 16 percent and total sales to be at $43.4 billion, more than a billion dollars greater than the final tally.

“This year’s growth rate is essentially on a par with last year’s,” Fulgoni said. “Consumers almost immediately pulled back on spending, apparently due to concerns over the looming ‘fiscal cliff’ and what that might mean for their household budgets in 2013. With Congress deadlocked throughout December, growth rates softened even further and never quite made up enough ground to reach our original expectation.”

The firm defines the holiday season as November and December (nine weeks this year). Looking at the totals on a weekly basis, it shows that sales growth in November ranged from 15 to 17 percent, year-over-year. Sales growth then fell to 11 percent for the week following Thanksgiving and dropped to 1 percent during the last week of the season, with one major exception. The week that ended just before Christmas Day (week eight) saw a 53 percent increase in sales. ComScore said that the highly variable growth rates in the final two weeks (extremely high in the penultimate week and extremely low in the final week) are primarily a function of the way the calendar fell in relation to Christmas.

“While it is typical to see growth rates subside slightly during the week after Thanksgiving, the amplified and sustained lull this year came as something of a surprise,” Fulgoni said. “You might say that had it not been for Congress, every other indicator suggested it would have been an even merrier Christmas for online retailers.”


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Consumers Spent a Record-Breaking $43.4 Billion Online in Q4 2010

Online retail spending reached a record $43.4 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010, up 11 percent versus year ago, according to digital measurement company, comScore. This growth rate represented the fifth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second quarter of double-digit growth rates in the past year.

“Holiday season spending was bolstered by an improving sentiment among some consumer segments and by retailers’ discounting and promotions,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. “The 2010 holiday season saw the first billion-dollar day on record and several more surpassing $900 million to help propel Q4 to record spending levels. We anticipate that the progress we’ve seen in the past year as we climbed out of the recession will continue with sustained double-digit growth rates in 2011.

Other highlights from Q4 2010 include:

* The top-performing online product categories were Computer Software (excl. PC Games), Consumer Electronics, Books & Magazines (excl. digital downloads), Computers/Peripherals/PDAs, and Toys & Hobbies. Each of the aforementioned categories grew at least 15 percent in Q4 2010 vs. year ago.

* The top 25 online retailers accounted for 68.4 percent of dollars spent online, up 5.6 percentage points vs. year ago. However, this percentage represented a decline from Q3 2010, during which the top 25 retailers accounted for 69.9 percent of dollars, an indication that small and mid-sized retailers are also rebounding from the recession, comScore said.

* A total of 84 percent of U.S. Internet users conducted an online transaction in Q4 2010, up from 78 percent last year. The average buyer spent about the same amount online during the most recent quarter as they did last year.

Final Results: Holiday Online Spending Hits a Record $37.2 billion

Retail e-commerce spending for the November – December 2011 holiday season (November 1 - December 31) increased 15 percent, year-over-year, to $37.2 billion, an all-time record for the season, according to comScore, a company that measures digital data and provides digital business analytics.

Ten individual spending days surpassed $1 billion in sales, as compared to just one day reaching that mark in 2010, the Reston, Va.-based company said. Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving Day, November 28) ranked as the heaviest online spending day of the year at $1.25 billion, the second consecutive year it has ranked first for the season. The second heaviest spending day was Monday, December 5 at $1.17 billion, followed by Monday, December 12 at $1.13 billion. Tuesday, November 29 ($1.11 billion) and Tuesday, December 6 ($1.10 billion).

With the relative newness and growing acceptance of digital e-commerce, it’s common for online sales to exceed the prior year’s results. However, the 2011 holiday season was exceptional by any standard.

“With brick-and-mortar holiday retail estimated to have grown about 4 percent this year, it’s clear that e-commerce continues to gain market share from traditional retail due to the attractiveness of the Internet’s convenience and lower prices,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. “Consumers were especially attracted to the deals and discounts available through digital channels—particularly free shipping, which occurred on well over half of transactions this season. Despite their continuing price sensitivity, consumers felt a bit more comfortable opening up their wallets this year, although this appears to have occurred as a result of a decline in the savings rate. Nonetheless, it’s clear that, at least on the basis of top line growth, this was a Merry Christmas for many online retailers. What will remain unknown until retailers report their financial year end results is whether the aggressive pricing and free shipping offers came at the cost of lower margins.”

Q4 Retail E-Commerce Spending Nears $50 Billion

Online retail spending for the fourth quarter of 2011 increased 14 percent, year-over-year, to $49.7 billion, according to comScore, which measures digital data. This growth rate represents the ninth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. For the entire 2011 year, U.S. retail e-commerce spending reached a record $161.5 billion, a 13-percent increase from 2010.

“The fourth quarter of 2011 capped off what was yet another strong year for online retail, one in which every quarter achieved double-digit increases versus the prior year,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. “In the face of continuing uncertainty regarding the U.S. economy, consumers increasingly went online for their shopping needs. Price and convenience continue to be the critical value drivers for e-commerce, and unless those conditions change we can expect to see more channel-shifting to online in 2012 and perhaps even an acceleration in the current growth trend.”

Other highlights from Q4 2011 include:

* The top-performing online product categories were: Digital Content & Subscriptions, Jewelry & Watches, Consumer Electronics, Toys & Hobbies, and Computer Software. Each category grew at least 18 percent vs. year ago.

* Ten individual days in Q4 surpassed $1 billion in online spending, led by Cyber Monday (Nov. 28) at $1.25 billion. Monday, Dec. 5 ranked second at $1.17 billion, followed by Green Monday (Dec. 12) at $1.13 billion.

* 52 percent of e-commerce transactions included free shipping, representing an all-time high. The previous high was Q4 2010 at 49 percent.

* Smartphones and tablets played a growing role in online shopping, with consumes increasingly using smartphones to check prices and product features while physically in a retail store.