Online sales’ growth cools off to 12% for week ending Oct. 20
The torrid year-to-year increases that online retail spending has experienced for most of the year eased considerably for the week that ended Oct. 20, comScore Media Metrix reports. Consumer online retail spending that week totaled $688 million, up 12% from the comparable week a year ago. Year-over-year increases have been 30% or more for most of this year. Online sales were down 21% from $834 million the week earlier.
Interestingly, the same week saw the most significant gain in total retail spending since mid September. Total sales were up 6.2% that week from the same week a year ago to $78.2 billion, reports the National Retail Sales Estimate from ShopperTrak RTC. Sales were up 6% from the prior week.
Online sales also were significantly below the average spending of the previous four weeks--$813 million--and below the average week year-to-date--$763 million. The average for the prior four weeks was 40% above the average for the same four weeks a year earlier. The YTD average is 30% over last year’s.
ComScore Vice President Dan Hess says the slower growth is part of overall consumer spending trends that change from week to week. “We continue to see an acceleration and deceleration of consumer spending driven by an ever changing mix of financial and worldwide conditions,” he says.
Online travel spending continued to boom, reaching $653 million for the week ending Oct. 20, up 74% over the year-ago week. The four-week average was $615 million, 57% ahead of a year ago, and the YTD weekly average is $586 million, 59% ahead of a year ago.
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