Online sales struggle to recover after terrorist attacks, says comScore
Online sales of hard goods remain in the doldrums following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., reports comScore Networks, trackers of web activity. While total online sales, which include travel and event tickets has recovered to 83% of the pre-attack activity, retail sales on the web are still down 22% from the pre-attack week. In fact, that 22% decline is a further deterioration from the week of the attack and the week following the attack, when sales were down 16%.
Travel services, meanwhile, have recovered, being off only 7% the second week following the attack, vs. 46% the week of the attack and 44% the next week. Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, says the travel that is being booked appears to be personal travel, some of it in anticipation of Thanksgiving travel. In addition, comScore says sales of event tickets, which were down 80% in the week after the attack, grew in the most recent week, but remained 27% below pre-attack levels.
ComScore reports the following numbers, in millions. Percent changes are for the week before the attack:
|
Pre Attack |
Week of Attack |
First Week After |
Second Week After |
| Total On-Line Sales |
$750
|
$555 (- 26%)
|
$557 (- 26%)
|
$625 (- 17%)
|
| Travel Services |
$263
|
$143 (- 46%)
|
$148 (- 44%)
|
$245 (- 7%)
|
| All Other Products |
$487
|
$411 (- 16%)
|
$410 (- 16%)
|
$380 (- 22%)
|
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