Two surveys of online shopping reported today that holiday shopping on the web has begun. ComScore Media Metrix reports that shopping for the week ending Nov. 17 was up 16% vs. a year ago while a new BizRate.com/Shop.org survey says 60% of online merchants saw increases in sales of 25% or more in early November. The mean increase for those retailers was 25-49%, Shop.org says.
comScore Media Metrix
ComScore Media Metrix reports that for the week that ended last Sunday, online retail sales were up 16% over the year-earlier week. For most of this year, the year-over-year growth has been around 30%. ComScore notes, however, that by Nov. 17 last year, the holiday shopping season was in full swing because that week was the week before Thanksgiving, rather than two weeks before as it is this year.
For the week ending Nov. 17, consumers spent $976 million at online retail sites, up 7.8% from the prior week’s $905 million, comScore says.
Total retail sales for the same week rose only 0.2% from the comparable week a year ago to $84.8 billion and 2% over the prior week, reports the National Retail Sales Estimate from ShoperTrak RCC.
Early shopping is clearly attracting less experienced online buyers, comScore’s numbers report. While sales were up 16%, online buyers were up 36%. The disparity between the two rates of increase reflects that novice buyers spend less than experienced buyers and that online pricing has become very competitive, comScore says.
In the week ending Nov. 17, 9.2 million Internet users bought online vs. 6.7 million the same week last year, according to comScore. Key categories with significant increases in the number of buyers for that week vs. a year ago include toys, up 37%, movies and videos, up 68%,
flowers and gifts, up 103%, consumer electronics, up 92%, and
apparel, up 70%.
Meanwhile, online travel spending increased 56% over year-earlier levels to $530 million for the week ending Nov. 17.
BizRate.com/Shop.org
Online sales in November through this week are up 40% over year-earlier levels, BizRate reports, based on its tracking of online shopping behavior. The new survey that BizRate conducts with Shop.org--the 2002 Holiday Online Mood Study--surveys retailers about their changes in sales levels but does not actually report numerical increases in sales. That surveys says 60% of retailers reported that sales were up 25% or more.
The survey also asked retailer to identify the most successful marketing efforts; 47% cited free shipping (with conditions), 28% said search engine placement and 17% said early-shopper discounts.
BizRate/Shop.org's consumer survey shows that almost half of the online buying population plans to buy more online this year than they did last year. Consumers so far are satisfied with their online buying experience, the survey reports, with half of online buyers saying they are very satisfied and less than 2% saying they are dissatisfied.
BizRate/Shop.org says retailers reported sales increases the following way:
Up 150% or more: 2%
100-149%: 6%
75-99%: 10%
50-74%: 12%
25-49%: 30%
10-24%: 14%
0-9%: 10%
No change: 4%
Decreases: 12%
The Shop.org/BizRate.com 2002 Holiday Online Mood Study will be conducted every two weeks with results reported on Dec. 3, 17 and 30.
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