Northeast consumers turn to the web when deep snow keeps them inside
Retail sales in the Northeast skidded during last week’s snowstorm, resulting in a decline in total retail sales for the week of 3.3% vs. the corresponding week a year ago, reports ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate. But that didn’t stop consumers from shopping; many turned to the web, says shopping comparison site Shopping.com. Shopping.com reports that its traffic from New York grew 100% over the weekend from the prior weekend.
For store retailers, the silver lining of the snowstorm was that it occurred early enough in the holiday shopping season that the industry has time to recoup the lost sales, ShopperTrak says.
Shopping.com reports that 20 million consumers have shopped at its site since the day after Thanksgiving, conducting 33 million comparison sessions. 14 million clicked through to retailers. Its peak day so far was Monday, when 2.05 million shoppers visited its site.
“Online shopping has clearly gone mainstream,” said Nirav Tolia, Shopping.com’s COO. “The growth of Shopping.com, in particular, reveals that people are embracing the Internet’s ability to help them compare products, prices and stores before they buy.”
Early reports from retailers confirm that the online shopping season is shaping up to be a good one. RitzCamera.com, for instance, is projecting that digital camera sales at its site will grow 30-40% this year over last.
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