comScore Holiday Shopping Update

[andrewgoodman]

Online retail spending is up 23% over last year thus far in the "holiday" period, according to today's release (http://www.comscore.com/press/pr.asp).

The increases are sharper for specific recent days. On Thanksgiving Day, normally a relatively light online shopping day, consumers spent $133 million online, up 100% over last year. On Friday, November 26, the spend was up 41% over the same day last year. comScore attributes the increase in shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend to increasing broadband penetration and increasing ease of use in the online shopping process.

comScore seems to be projecting a big day for Monday, when American consumers return to work, "long a favorite location from which to shop online."

[Nacho]

Wahooooo!!! Go Consumers Go!!! Search, click, buy . . . search, click, buy . . . search, click, buy . . . search, click, buy . . . search, click, buy . . . search, click, buy . . . search, click, buy . . . :)

Thanks for the report Andrew. I love to hear this type of news.

[andrewgoodman]

This news contrasts with the reports I am reading about mall retailers who are reporting a "tepid" holiday season. As with the election I will wait until all the returns are in to decide whether this was a strong season or not. :) Personally, I like going to the mall. Gets me outta the house.

But it's very plausible to me that online retail is growing so rapidly still. The phenomenon that particularly strikes me is the "revenue per customer" rising for companies like Amazon. If it's so easy to check out, ship, etc., and the price is right, why not add some gifts in with those books?

I noticed that with a wine site that I frequent (local wineries only in Ontario, winerytohome.com). They have "collections" that entice you to order several bottles (hic). Another neat trick is if you order one bottle from one of their participating wineries, you're informed that the minimum order is two. (So, you throw in a second bottle.) And if you order above $100 you get a related magazine sent to you, and sometimes a small gift like a fridge magnet. Online retailers are definitely getting smarter with this stuff. Plus, customer acquisition costs go down as a proportion of revenues as repeat buying kicks in.

I still don't know who is buying a $2,700 watch online, but someone definitely is. Perhaps it's Jeff Bezos, messing with our heads.

[NFFC]

>comScore attributes the increase in shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend to increasing broadband penetration and increasing ease of use in the online shopping process.

I wouldn't discount the effect of webmasters spending their October Adsense earnings as the cheque is so close. I'm only half joking.

>reports I am reading about mall retailers who are reporting a "tepid" holiday season

Thats what I hear from friends in the B&M business, trade is sluggish. Online B2C retailers I know are, well "booming" may be an exaggeration but not by much.

>customer acquisition costs go down as a proportion of revenues as repeat buying kicks in.

Is a great point, maybe those guys splashing the big cash around a few years back were right after all, its all about aquiring customers.

Report from the trenches. We are four years selling online, UK only. This month has seen the best single days trading, the best weeks 1,2 and 3 and the best month ever. Now I have to be honest we turned the logs off a couple of months ago so I'm not sure that is due to increased traffic, but I'm guessing not. I think online retailing is just creeping towards the tipping point, next year I think it will tip.