In releasing its retail e-commerce sales estimates for the fourth quarter, comScore, Inc. said that online retail spending declined 3% versus year ago, the first recorded quarter of negative growth since comScore began tracking e-commerce spending in 2001.
Nonetheless, for the full year 2008, retail e-commerce grew 6% to $130.1 billion, but that represented a substantially lower growth rate than in previous years.
The fastest-growing retail category in 2008 was video games, consoles & accessories (up 29% vs. 2007), which continued to benefit from online sales of popular game consoles like the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3.
Other fast-growing categories included home, garden & furniture (up 25%) and sport & fitness (up 25%), both of which benefited from an increasing consumer willingness to complete major consumer purchases, such as furniture and home exercise equipment, online.
