Online retail spending in the third quarter grew 23% over last year’s third quarter to $28.44 billion from $23.05 billion, comScore Inc. reports. In the first three quarters of the year, online sales grew 21% to $83.58 billion from $69.12 billion.
“Online retail spending continues to grow at rates in excess of 20% year-over-year, which suggests that the market is still far from maturity,” says Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore. “Even online travel commerce, which is a more developed market, continues to experience double-digit gains.”
Online travel sales in the third quarter were up 11% over a year earlier, reaching $20.15 billion from $18.24 billion. In the first three quarters, online travel sales were up 13% to $59.74 billion from $52.93 billion.
Video games, consoles & accessories continues to be the hottest retail category, nearly tripling online sales from last year on the strength of Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3-related sales, comScore reports. Consumer electronics was the next fastest growing category in Q3, up 58%, driven by high definition and flat screen TVs. Third fastest growing category was toys & hobbies, up 57%, comScore reports.
Top gaining online retail categories in Q3 and percent change from year earlier were:
Video games, consoles & accessories, 199%
Consumer electronics, excluding PC peripherals, 58%
Toys & hobbies, 57%
Event tickets, 54%
Books & magazines, 48%
Furniture, appliances & equipment, 47%
Home & garden, 31%
Music, movies & videos, 31%
Jewelry & watches, 21%
Sport & fitness, 20%
Apparel & accessories, 11%
ComScore bases its numbers on the activities of a cross-section of panelists who have chosen to allow comScore to monitor their online behavior. ComScore numbers exclude auctions and large corporate purchases.
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