By Keith Regan E-Commerce Times
12/10/02 10:51 AM PT
A third report from GartnerG2 cast the only real cloud over holiday sales sunshine by suggesting that consumers are buying items they are already accustomed to purchasing online, rather than branching out into new product categories.
Online sales continue to impress as the holiday season enters its home stretch, according to two new reports. ComScore/Media Metrix said consumers spent US$2 billion during the week after Thanksgiving, marking an all-time one-week sales record for the Web and representing an increase of 34 percent over the same week in 2001.
As in past years, the Monday after Thanksgiving represented the real start of the holiday crunch online, as many consumers engage in e-shopping at the workplace.
Most analysts consider the eight weeks leading up to Christmas to be the online holiday shopping season. This year, since the beginning of November, U.S. consumers have spent $8.2 billion online, up 29 percent compared with last year.
Harris Interactive director of e-commerce research Lori Iventosch-James told the E-Commerce Times that compared with previous shopping seasons, price now seems to matter more to shoppers.
That price consciousness has helped boost eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) to the top spot among all online shopping destinations, leapfrogging Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN). According to Nielsen//NetRatings, eBay drew a unique audience of 11.9 million shoppers in November, compared with 10.2 million for Amazon. Amazon's audience is larger, however, when traffic at such sites as Toysrus.com and Target.com is taken into account.
"Sites like eBay appeal to price-conscious shoppers," Iventosch-James said. Other top-drawing shopping sites were portals, such as Yahoo, MSN and AOL, which offer easy price comparison shopping.
Stuck in a Rut?
A third report from GartnerG2 cast the only real cloud over holiday sales sunshine by suggesting that consumers are leaning toward buying items they are already accustomed to purchasing online, rather than branching out into new product categories.
GartnerG2 said its survey revealed that shoppers will buy primarily CDs, DVDs, toys and software, the same items that sell well online throughout the year. Research director David Schehr said the consistency shows that "consumers now understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Web as a retail channel."
But Schehr said that even this reluctance to branch out will not slow down e-commerce in 2002, with worldwide holiday sales on pace to surpass 2001 levels by more than 48 percent.
E-Commerce Holiday Gold Mines December 10, 2002
Despite consumers' low-end leanings, top searches on Yahoo! still include plasma-screen TVs, which can cost more than $10,000, as well as computers and digital cameras.
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Report: Online Sales Spiked Sharply in November December 03, 2002
AOL said its members accounted for $1.09 billion in e-commerce spending during Thanksgiving week, 26 percent more than last year.
Why the E-Commerce Holiday Season Is Recession-Proof December 02, 2002
Over time, consumers have been shifting more of their gift budget to the online channel, fueling double-digit revenue increases at e-commerce sites and helping to make online holiday spending more predictable.
U.S.: E-Commerce Hit All-Time Q3 High November 25, 2002
The increase in e-shopping was also noted by Nielsen//Netratings, which reported that in the week ended November 3rd, shopping activity increased 12 percent.
Reports: E-Shoppers Get Head Start on Holidays November 15, 2002
GartnerG2 reported that the average U.S. online consumer will spend $235, or more than a quarter of their total holiday gift budget, on the Web.
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