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.”

Holiday Jewelry, Luxury Sales Show Continued Strength

Reuters

Jewelry sales for the holiday season have increased 2.6 percent year-over-year, according to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, which tracks national retail and services sales. Luxury sales, excluding jewelry, are doing slightly better at 2.8 percent.

Jewelry sales have grown steadily in the latter part of the season, according to the report, which tracks sales from October 31 to December 11. Overall, retail sales are generally up with some exceptions, most notably electronics.

“The modest growth we first saw with the August Back-to-School season has accelerated. These results suggest that retail spending continues to gain traction,” said Michael McNamara, MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse vice president. “Most sectors are showing steady improvements, with Electronics, Department Stores and Furnishings categories recording flat to small declines. The solid November growth rates have continued across most areas through the first half of December.”

In addition to jewelry and luxury, SpendingPulse, which uses card swipe data from MasterCard and estimates of other payment methods, analyzed the Electronics, Apparel and eCommerce sectors. Here are the midseason highlights:

eCommerce
eCommerce continues to be one of the stars of the season with a season-to-date growth rate of 13.5 percent. The sector has been showing double-digit weekly year-over-year growth rates since the second week in November.

Apparel
The Total Apparel category was up 9.8 percent for the season-to-date. Women's Apparel sales were up 4.4 percent for the season with the category recording a slightly better showing since Black Friday. Men's Apparel sales grew 8.4 percent year-over-year. Growth within the Teen and Family Apparel segments is also strong.

Electronics
Electronics sales fell below 2009 levels during the three weeks leading up to Black Friday. Sales during the rest of the period barely made up the decline, with sales season-to-date recording a 0.4 percent increase over last year.

Gemvara Names Janet Holian CEO

Janet Holian

Gemvara, an online retailer of customizable fine jewelry, said Tuesday that it has extended Janet Holian’s role as interim CEO to a permanent position.

In Holian’s permanent role as CEO, “she will focus on distinguishing the Gemvara brand and seeing out founder Matt Lauzon’s vision to show consumers that jewelry customization leads to pieces that are uniquely personal and valued,” the company said in a statement.

The company added that Lauzon, "knew from the start of their professional relationship that she was the best person to lead the burgeoning jewelry company."

Prior to joining Gemvara in 2011, Holian spent 11 years at Vistaprint as president of the company’s European business, executive VP and chief marketing officer of Vistaprint USA, and various marketing roles for the corporation since being hired in 2000. 

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