Cyber Monday's earning power lived up to the hype this year posting double-digit growth as predicted by industry watchers. Web shop owners yesterday rang up an estimated $599 million in sales, up 24 percent from last year, according to comScore Networks, which studies online traffic.
Meanwhile, comScore also reported today that the traditional shopping day Black Friday realized online sales of $434 million, a whopping 42-percent increase from last year. Furthermore, during the first 24 days of November this year, total online retail spending reached $8.31 billion, marking a 23-percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005.
An analysis of traffic to online comparison shopping sites revealed a distinct surge in visits on Black Friday, as consumers began their traditional hunt for holiday bargains. Visits to the leading shopping engines collectively rose 21 percent on Black Friday, versus the average number of daily visits during November.
ShopLocal.com, however, saw a triple digit increase in visits on Black Friday and during the preceding three days, as consumers took advantage of the site's ability to help them pinpoint bargains available at local offline retailers.
"Clearly consumers are increasing their use of online resources to drive their offline shopping," said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks. "On Black Friday, when many consumers were drawing up their 'battle plans' for finding in-store bargains, it appears that the savviest among them had already used the Internet to price items for purchase at local stores offline. We expect this trend to continue during the holiday season."
Meanwhile, eBay, according the Nielsen//NetRatings, led the top online shopping destinations on Black Friday with 7.5 million unique visitors, followed by Amazon and Wal-Mart with 3.4 million and 3.2 million visitors, respectively.
Nielsen//NetRatings also found that the fastest growing product category week-over-week was consumer electronics, with a 211-percent increase in unique visits from Nov. 17 to Nov. 24. Apparel followed with 117-percent Web traffic growth and home and garden merchandise took the third spot with an 87-percent gain.
"This year, shoppers went online to check out the latest in consumer electronics, including flat screen TVs and new game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and the highly coveted Sony PlayStation 3," said Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "Apparel continues to be one of the most popular holiday gifts, as evidenced by that category's growth on Black Friday as well. What is somewhat surprising is the strong showing of the home and garden category, as consumers invest in their homes despite the slowdown in the real estate market."
Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.
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