Holiday E-tail Sales Decline for First Time Since '01
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Bad economy and fewer shopping days cited
From the Albany Business Review:
Online retail sales declined this holiday season for the first time since 2001, although some merchants, including Macy's Inc., did see an increase in visitors.
Total orders from Nov. 1 to Dec. 23 slipped to $25.5 billion, down from $26.3 billion in the same period last year, according to ComScore, which measures online activity. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 28, sales declined by 4 percent, to $36.8 billion from $38.4 billion a year ago.
This makes for the worst showing since ComScore began tracking holiday online sales, in 2001.
"The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online," ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a press release.
Among the online sites that saw the biggest increase in unique visitors was Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), with a 19 percent increase to 35 million, and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), a 7 percent gain to 76 million. Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) saw a 28 percent increase in visitors, to 19.4 million from 15.2 million.
But the greatest total number of visitors flocked to eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), which saw 85.4 million, an actual decline of 4 percent from the year-ago figure of 88.9 million.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati-based Macy's (NYSE: M) witnessed a 1 percent gain in online visitors, to 15.9 million from 15.7 million. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) realized a decline of 11 percent and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) had a drop of 1 percent.
Reston, Va.-based ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) is among the largest trackers of online activity. It was founded in 1999.
From the Albany Business Review:
Online retail sales declined this holiday season for the first time since 2001, although some merchants, including Macy's Inc., did see an increase in visitors.
Total orders from Nov. 1 to Dec. 23 slipped to $25.5 billion, down from $26.3 billion in the same period last year, according to ComScore, which measures online activity. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 28, sales declined by 4 percent, to $36.8 billion from $38.4 billion a year ago.
This makes for the worst showing since ComScore began tracking holiday online sales, in 2001.
"The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online," ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a press release.
Among the online sites that saw the biggest increase in unique visitors was Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), with a 19 percent increase to 35 million, and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), a 7 percent gain to 76 million. Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) saw a 28 percent increase in visitors, to 19.4 million from 15.2 million.
But the greatest total number of visitors flocked to eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), which saw 85.4 million, an actual decline of 4 percent from the year-ago figure of 88.9 million.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati-based Macy's (NYSE: M) witnessed a 1 percent gain in online visitors, to 15.9 million from 15.7 million. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) realized a decline of 11 percent and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) had a drop of 1 percent.
Reston, Va.-based ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) is among the largest trackers of online activity. It was founded in 1999.
posted by Chris and Frank at 1:00 PM
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