Online shopping defies downturn
Online shoppers in the US defied the economic downturn to boost spend over the holiday period to a record USD24.6bn, up 15% year on year from USD21bn. New comScore stats indicate that e-commerce boomed over the 39-day period from the beginning of November, driven by marketing initiatives such as ‘Green Monday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’, respectively the day where buyers spend the most online and the day where online retailers offer day-long discounts on products. comScore predicts that this pattern will continue as shoppers rush to buy last-minute gifts in the weeks running up to Christmas.
“These highlights represent another very positive sign for the holiday shopping season, as the week following ‘Cyber Week’ often experiences relative softness in spending momentum due to retailers pulling back on their promotional activity,” says comScore chairman, Gian Fulgon. “As we enter what will be the heaviest week of the season for online retailers – beginning with ‘Green Monday’ on December 12 – all signs are now pointing to a strong finish to the season.”
This year also saw the biggest day for online spend on record with the final Monday of November kicking off the Cyber Week of online shopping and responsible for some USD1.25bn in takings. This was followed by the first Monday in December, which took USD1.18bn and is overall the second-heaviest day in history for online spend.
comScore also says that this year’s ‘Cyber Monday’, kicking off Cyber Week, saw the heaviest online spend since the firm began tracking e-commerce in 2001. The overall list showing the top ten heaviest online shopping days in the US is dominated by 2011 dates, with many surpassing USD1bn spend, suggesting that more shoppers are comfortable staying away from bricks-and-mortar shops and buying their Christmas gifts online.
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