November online sales grew 22%, eSpending Report says
Online retail sales in November grew 22% over last November to $6.2 billion from last year’s $5.1 billion, according to the eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs & Co., Harris Interactive, and Nielsen/NetRatings.
Finding good prices was a leading reason for shopping online, with 40% of consumers citing price as a key reason for choosing to shop online. Consumers also cited wider selection and the ability to easily compare products as leading reasons to shop online.
During Thanksgiving week, eBay.com was the busiest retail site, the report says. "EBay, with its large and loyal user base has become more than just an auction house," said Patrick Thomas, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen/NetRatings. "EBay`s strategy to promote new and used gift items has made a significant contribution to their seasonal holiday traffic." EBay registered 11.9 million visitors that week. Amazon was next in retail sites with 10.2 million, followed by Yahoo Shopping at 7.4 million. MSN at 3.1 million and WalMart.com at 2.8 million rounded out the top five.
The next five sites were BestBuy.com at 2.1 million, AOL at 1.9 million, ColumbiaHouse.com at 1.83 million, ToysRUs.com at 1.79 million and DealTime.com at 1.78 million.
The eSpending Report is based on a weekly national survey of more than 750 online shoppers age 18 and older randomly chosen from Harris Interactive`s online panel of survey respondents.
Meanwhile, bargain hunters are turning to the web in force. Bargain site Overstock.com Inc. reported sales of $7.2 million for Dec. 1-7, more than triple the $2.3 million in sales for the same week last year.
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