U.S. online sales are up 12% to $27.5 billion so far this holiday shopping season compared with a year ago, according to comScore. In the Nov. 1 through Dec. 17 period, four individual days surpassed $900 million, led by “Green Monday” on Dec. 13 with $954 million and “Free Shipping Day,” December 17, with $942 million.
| 2010 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2009 Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore, Inc. |
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Millions ($) | ||
| 2009 | 2010 | Percent Change | |
| November 1 – December 17 |
$24,504 |
$27,460 |
12% |
| Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 25) |
$318 |
$407 |
28% |
| Black Friday (Nov. 26) |
$595 |
$648 |
9% |
| Cyber Monday (Nov. 29) |
$887 |
$1,028 |
16% |
| Green Monday (Dec. 13) |
$854 |
$954 |
12% |
| Free Shipping Day (Dec. 17) |
$586 |
$942 |
61% |
| Week Ending Dec. 17 (Dec. 11-17) |
$4,644 |
$5,509 |
14% |
*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (November 2 thru December 18, 2009)
“Free Shipping Day punctuated an exceptional week in which consumers
spent more than $5.5 billion online, representing a 14-percent increase
from last year,“ said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “While no
individual days during the week surpassed $1 billion in spending, we saw
strength throughout the week beginning with Green Monday and ending
with Free Shipping Day on Friday. At this late juncture in the online
holiday season, we have likely already witnessed the peak spending day
of the year, which means that Cyber Monday should emerge as the season’s
heaviest online spending day for the first time in history.“
Free Shipping Surge Remains Strong during Final Online Sales Push
ComScore’s
analysis of e-commerce transactions including free shipping indicated
that consumers took advantage of the offer later into the season this
year, in part due to the appeal of Free Shipping Day on Friday, Dec. 17.
Each of the past five weeks has seen free shipping on at least half of
transactions, while that threshold was reached only once during the 2009
season. For the five-day week ending with Free Shipping Day, the
percentage of transactions with free shipping reached 52.7 percent, 12
percentage points higher than the corresponding time period last year,
the most sizeable gap observed this season.
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Weekly Holiday Free Shipping Analysis Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore, Inc. |
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| Week Ending | Percent of Transactions with Free Shipping | ||
| 2009* | 2010 | Point Change | |
| 11/7/2010 |
40.9% |
44.8% |
3.9 |
| 11/14/2010 |
47.1% |
45.2% |
-1.8 |
| 11/21/2010 |
50.2% |
50.1% |
-0.1 |
| 11/28/2010 |
45.6% |
55.1% |
9.6 |
| 12/5/2010 |
43.8% |
51.4% |
7.6 |
| 12/12/2010 |
44.5% |
51.6% |
7.1 |
| 12/17/2010** |
40.6% |
52.7% |
12.1 |
*Weeks based on corresponding shopping days for 2009
**Based on five-day week (ending Friday)
“Free
shipping has certainly become one of the prevalent themes of the 2010
holiday season,” added Fulgoni. “Since the week before Thanksgiving,
we’ve seen the majority of online retail transactions use free
shipping, which confirms the appeal of the offer for consumers. Free
Shipping Day also appears to have driven a sustained late-season
response, with free shipping transactions accelerating in importance in
2010 whereas they actually began to decline during the same period in
2009.”
Top Growing Retail Categories
Computer
Hardware ranks as the top growing category for the holiday season to
date with a 25-percent increase versus last year. Purchases of handheld
devices (such as Apple iPads and e-readers) and laptop computers drove
much of the growth. Attractive pricing on flat panel TVs continues to
drive growth in consumer electronics, which grew 22 percent to rank as
the second fastest-growing category. Books & Magazines (up 21
percent), Computer Software excluding PC Games (up 16 percent) and Toys
(up 15 percent) rounded out the top five gaining categories.
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Top Growing Online Retail Product Categories Nov 1 Dec 17 2010 vs. Corresponding Days in 2009 Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore, Inc. |
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| Retail Category | Percent Change |
| Computer Hardware |
25% |
| Consumer Electronics |
22% |
| Books & Magazines |
21% |
| Computer Software (excl. PC Games) |
16% |
| Toys |
15% |
*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (November 2 thru December 18, 2009)
