Ecomm up 20% - Blasts 1 Week Record

$2.2 billion spent online dec 1 - dec 7

[Brett_Tabke]

Comscore says that:

Online consumer sales totaled $2.2 billion, an all-time weekly spending record, reflecting 37 percent growth versus the second shopping week following Thanksgiving last year (week ending Dec. 7, 2001). Spending on non-travel goods and services increased 36 percent versus year-ago to $1.7 billion, while travel spending increased 41 percent to $507 million. Consistent with comScore expectations, Thursday, Dec. 12 was the peak non- travel sales day for the holiday season to date, at $288 million.

[comscore.com...]

[indigojo]

Thats good news, maybe an indication that the industry may be slowly but surely coming out of the doldrums.

[KevinC]

I can vouch for that, I have just been getting more and more sales. With today being my peak so far. Lots of people shopping this year

[iJeep]

Yep, I saw a happy increase last month and have already done more this month than in all of october. I think a lot has to do with the great advice on SEO found on this site ;)

[jeremy goodrich]

That is great news. Even if the economy on a whole isn't 'improving' here in the States, to see more people shopping online is a *very* good thing.

Happy news, indeed.

[dcheney]

I don't want to burst anyone's bubble - but this year's shopping season is a week shorter due to the late Thanksgiving.

[Rumbas]

Dow Jones Newswires says online shopping was up 20% in the first weeks of November also. Looks like this christmas really looks to be good for the online stores, however the big boys get the most costumers it seems:

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), eBay Inc. (EBAY) and Yahoo Inc.'s (YHOO) "Yahoo shopping" are the three most popular online shopping destinations, Strand said. Yahoo is only slightly less popular than Amazon and Ebay.

Dow Jones Newswire on Nielsen-Netratings [nielsen-netratings.com]

[Dante_Maure]

I don't want to burst anyone's bubble - but this year's shopping season is a week shorter due to the late Thanksgiving.

Heh.

Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.
--Aaron Levenstein

[turk182]

I think that this growth versus last year sales is due to a change of consumer's buying habits. I mean, maybe most of the growth is due to people who usually shopped "offline" but now do it online, and the yearly total sales growth (offline plus online) is negative, so maybe the economy is not really improving :(

[KevinC]

Well even with the nay sayers I think anyone who had their stuff together even 50% made a lot of money this season. At least for me I keep selling more and more every day.

[chicagohh]

We have sold so much this season (our first selling online) that we had to shut down. We simply could not keep up with shipping!

[jdMorgan]

I'm not in e-commerce, but allow me to give you an outside view: Consumers are finally "getting the word" about how to use the Web. Their experience using secure shopping carts has reassured them that on-line shopping is safe, as long as the company has posted a valid physical address on their site. I'm getting this from my friends and relatives who are not primarily Web-oriented.

So you are seeing the benefit of a larger portion of total retail sales being made on-line. Even though overall sales are down this year, you're getting a bigger share. Those of you who are doing better as compared to last year or the year before - despite the economic impact of the dot-com collapse, 9/11, Enron, and WorldCom - can expect even more success if the economy picks up next year.

So, it's a smaller pie this year, but if you're still getting a decent-sized piece of it, you'll be really happy when the pie gets bigger again.

Happy Holidays!
Jim

[IanTurner]

We are seeing the same in the UK a slow down in overall high street sales not matched by the people polled here. We are all seeing a real increase in online sales.

[nell]

A 25-30% increase in online sales.

Perhaps after the usual "post X-mas returns" we will turn on the dancing music.

Bogus Order Department was also up a few percentage points this year. Our Nigerian/Indonesian customers were feeling much more in the "giving" spirit. They tried extra hard to "give it" to us this holiday season.

[TallTroll]

I think that consumers are (finally) getting used to the idea of online shopping. Most of the problems remaining are psychological, a question of consumer confidence in the technology and the process. The success of a few high profile purely web based companies (notably the lastminute.com and Amazons of this world) is proof to the average consumer that it can work, and that confidence is starting to rub off on smaller players.

I think you will see a snowball effect as more people get the habit. Once a comsumer has had a positve experience buying over the web, they will tend to do it again, so not only will the number of online consumers rise, but the range of goods they are willing to buy will increase, as will the total they are willing to "risk" on electronic transactions.

The ecommerce sites of the world have helped themselves immeasurably by (more or less) getting their own house in order too. Ecommerce sites generally are far more professional, both in looks and technology. The security fears have been largely addressed in the minds of many consumers, and potential consumers, and fulfillment is rarely an issue.

From a personal point of view, I personally bought more over the web in 2002 than in any previous year, and I know people who did a significant fraction of their Xmas shopping online. I expect 2003 to increase the trend, both for me and the market in general. Those of my clients who make sales over the web also generally did better in 2002 (one only stayed flat, due to a general collapse in thier market sector. The web side of the business outperformed the offline part though, which is still a victory for the internet)