By Candace Lombardi, 4 January 2007 08:20
NEWS
Online shoppers spent more and ordered later during the 2006 holiday season, according to new statistics.
The record for single-day online sales at US sites was broken on 11 December at $661m, according to comScore Networks. That record was then broken two days later, with $667m spent online on 13 December. In 2005, the record was $556m spent on 12 December.
Growth in online spending was up about 26 per cent overall from 2005, according to comScore Networks. The company analysed whether the growth was in the number of buyers or the dollars spent per buyer. Approximately 17 per cent was due to an increase in buyers and about seven per cent was attributable to the dollars spent per buyer, according to Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at comScore.
The strongest growth came in the jewellery and watches category, which saw a 66 per cent increase in the amount of money being spent, followed by videogames, event tickets and videogame consoles, said comScore in a report. Apparel and accessories, at 33 per cent, showed the least growth.
Lipsman said: "We noticed a change in high-ticket categories like jewellery, specifically items like watches and in-excess-of-$10,000 diamond rings. People are really willing to purchase these high-ticket items over the internet now."
Many online retailers extended their guaranteed shipping date (the last date eligible for an item to arrive in time for Christmas), and shoppers appear to have taken them up on that offer. There was a marked increase in sales between 16 through 18 December, compared with those same dates in 2005, suggesting people have increased trust in online retailers' ability to deliver goods on time, according to comScore.
The move essentially extended the online holiday shopping season, giving online retailers more time to compete with bricks-and-mortar stores for purchases.
In terms of the number of online transactions, MasterCard ranked 11 December as the busiest shopping day. Amazon did as well, saying it sold more than four million items on that day.
Research analyst comScore also ranked the most successful online retailers for 2006.
Amazon.com came in first in terms of dollars spent between 1 November and 26 December, the holiday shopping season. Dell.com, Yahoo.com and Walmart.com came in second, third and fourth, respectively. They were followed by Ticketmaster.com, JCPenney.com, Apple.com, BestBuy.com, VictoriasSecret.com and CircuitCity.com.
In terms of growth in sales between 2005 and 2006, however, BestBuy.com was number one and Walmart.com was number two, according to comScore.
Amazon.com released its own statistics recently on popular holiday items. Not surprisingly, the most popular electronics item was the Apple iPod in various models. The most popular PCs purchased from the online superstore were the 13.3-inch Apple MacBook in white and black, and the Sony Vaio 15.4-inch laptop.
Candace Lombardi writes for CNET News.com
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below