ComScore released its report on ecommerce spending for the first 35 days of the November - December 2008 holiday season through December 5. The company said $14.92 billion had been spent online, essentially the same level compared to the corresponding days last year. For the five days beginning with December 1 (Cyber Monday), the kick-off to the heaviest part of the online shopping season, sales totaled $3.74 billion, up 9 percent versus year ago.
Two individual days in the past week achieved more than $800 million in online spending: Monday, December 1 ("Cyber Monday") with $846 million, and Tuesday, December 2 with $823 million.
"The online holiday shopping season has picked up noticeably since Thanksgiving as consumers have given in to the holiday spirit - and very attractive retailer discounts," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Particularly encouraging is the growth of 9 percent in online sales that has occurred since Cyber Monday. While this growth is certainly a positive development in this tough retail season, it also needs to be put into perspective. With the compressed time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year - five days shorter than last year - we need to see continued strong growth during the critical weeks between today and Christmas if this year's shopping season is to at least match that of last year."
The fastest growing product categories during the period from December 1 - 5 were Sport & Fitness (up 35 percent) and Consumer Electronics (up 24 percent), which saw sales surge as a result of significant price reductions on many items, including flat panel TVs. Apparel & Accessories, the second largest retail category in terms of dollar sales (after Computer Hardware) during this period, also experienced strong gains (up 16 percent). The softest retail categories include Music, Movies & Videos (down 24 percent) and Jewelry & Watches (down 22 percent).
During the five-day period since Cyber Monday, traffic to the retail site category was up 2 percent versus year ago, with many sites drawing a substantial number of visitors. eBay topped the list with 36 million unique visitors (down 9 percent), while three of the top ten retailer sites saw gains versus year ago: Amazon Sites (up 10 percent), Wal-Mart (up 7 percent), and Apple Inc. (up 29 percent).
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