skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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.”Please join me on the Jewelry News Network Facebook Page, on Twitter @JewelryNewsNet and on the Forbes Web site.
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.Please join me on the Jewelry News Network Facebook Page, on Twitter @JewelryNewsNet and on the Forbes Web site.
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.
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.”
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.
