Holiday E-Commerce Season Sales Finally Match Last Year as Two Workdays this Past Week Each Surpass $800 Million in Online Spending

Sales Since Cyber Monday Up 9 Percent Versus Year Ago

 

RESTON, VA, December 7, 2008 – comScore (NASDAQ : SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported its tracking of holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 35 days of the November – December 2008 holiday season. For the holiday season through December 5, $14.92 billion has been spent online, essentially the same level compared to the corresponding days last year. For the five days beginning with December 1 (Cyber Monday), the kick-off to the heaviest part of the online shopping season, sales totaled $3.74 billion, up 9 percent versus year ago. Two individual days in the past week achieved more than $800 million in online spending: Monday, December 1 (“Cyber Monday”) with $846 million, and Tuesday, December 2 with $823 million.

 

2008 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2007 Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore, Inc.
Holiday Season to Date	Millions ($)
	2007	2008	Pct Change
November 1 – December 5	$14,903	$14,922	0%
Dec .1 (Cyber Monday) – Dec. 5	$3,419	$3,743	9%

*Corresponding days based on equivalent shopping days relative to Thanksgiving (October 27 – November 30, 2007)

 

“The online holiday shopping season has picked up noticeably since Thanksgiving as consumers have given in to the holiday spirit – and very attractive retailer discounts,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Particularly encouraging is the growth of 9 percent in online sales that has occurred since Cyber Monday. While this growth is certainly a positive development in this tough retail season, it also needs to be put into perspective. With the compressed time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year – five days shorter than last year – we need to see continued strong growth during the critical weeks between today and Christmas if this year’s shopping season is to at least match that of last year.”

 

Top Performing Retail Categories Since Cyber Monday

The fastest growing product categories during the period from December 1 through December 5 were Sport & Fitness (up 35 percent) and Consumer Electronics (up 24 percent), which saw sales surge as a result of significant price reductions on many items, including flat panel TVs. Apparel & Accessories, the second largest retail category in terms of dollar sales (after Computer Hardware) during this period, also experienced strong gains (up 16 percent). The softest retail categories include Music, Movies & Videos (down 24 percent) and Jewelry & Watches (down 22 percent).

 

Growth in Retail E-Commerce Categories by Dollar Sales Since Cyber Monday Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Dec. 1- Dec. 5, 2008 vs. Corresponding Shopping Days in 2007 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore, Inc.
Retail Category	Y/Y Percent Change in Category Sales ($)
Sport & Fitness	35%
Consumer Electronics	24%
Apparel & Accessories	16%
Toys	16%
Books & Magazines	10%
Video Games, Consoles & Accessories	9%
Computer Hardware	2%
Home, Garden & Furniture	0%
Flowers, Greetings & Gifts	-8%
Jewelry & Watches	-22%
Music, Movies & Videos	-24%

 

Visitors to Top Retailer Sites Since Cyber Monday

During the five-day period since Cyber Monday, traffic to the retail site category is up 2 percent versus year ago, with many sites drawing a substantial number of visitors. eBay topped the list with 36 million unique visitors, while three of the top ten retailer sites saw gains versus year ago: Amazon Sites (up 10 percent), Wal-Mart (up 7 percent), and Apple Inc. (up 29 percent).

 

Visitor Growth at Top Retailer Sites Dec. 1- Dec. 5, 2008 vs. Corresponding Shopping Days in 2007 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore, Inc.
	Unique Visitors (000)
	2007	2008	Percent Change
Retail Site Category	118,393	121,271	2%
eBay	40,180	36,631	-9%
Amazon Sites	26,859	29,505	10%
Wal-Mart	18,183	19,514	7%
Target Corporation	16,273	15,905	-2%
Apple Inc.	9,290	11,943	29%
Best Buy Sites	9,350	8,561	-8%
JCPenney Sites	6,657	6,435	-3%
Overstock.com	6,930	5,874	-15%
Toysrus Sites	6,434	5,969	-7%
Dell	6,740	5,611	-17%

 

comScore’s Summary of  2008 Holiday Online Retail Spending by Key Time Period

Online Non-Travel (Retail) Holiday Consumer Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore, Inc.
	Millions ($)
	2007	2008	Pct Change
January – October	$93,551	$102,144	9%
comScore Holiday Season Forecast (Nov-Dec)	$29,169	$29,200**	0%**
November 27 (Thanksgiving Day)*	$273	$288	6%
November 28 (Black Friday)*	$531	$534	1%
December 1 (Cyber Monday)*	$733	$846	15%

* Versus Corresponding Shopping Day in 2007 Relative to Thanksgiving

**Forecast

 

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.

Race is on for hot holiday products

Every holiday season we comb through our search data to find the season’s most popular products. Some are recurring favorites – like Ugg boots (much to my chagrin) and the Wii, but to help mix up the wish lists some new entrants swing through each year and for 2008 it isBakugan. These popular toys are based upon a Japanese anime television series Bakugan Battle Brawlers, using metal cards and round, magnetic miniature figures that spring open to fight. Over the past 5 weeks, searches on ‘bakugan’ have been driving increased traffic to the Shopping & Classifieds category as holiday buyers seek out the much-desired toy.

Scarcity seems to make the heart grow fonder, so the demand for hot products always translates into searches to locate any retailers that may have the product in stock. The Wii game console has been the holiday challenge over the past few seasons and now the Wii Fit game has also become a hot commodity, with both appearing among the top 10 ‘in-stock’ searches.

Variations of the Bakugan toys have also started appear in the ‘in stock’ searches, so we may see them follow the path of the Wii (although no Bakugan Finder websites just yet). Now is a good time for retailers with inventory of Bakugan toys to exploit their availability & capture sales. Don't worry, if your feet are cold, Ugg boots are still in-demand, with plenty of supply.