Online retailers look for big day
Online retailers racked up unexpectedly strong numbers the day after Thanksgiving, which had not previously been a stellar day for electronic commerce. It’s an indication that the totals for today — when consumers return to work and to their computers after the holiday weekend — would be even stronger.
ComScore Networks Inc., which tracks online sales, estimated that Internet shoppers spent $195.6 million on Friday, a 30% increase over the day after Thanksgiving last year.
That total includes spending on tickets for travel. The increase in non-travel purchases was more impressive — $150.9 million, or 40% over the same day last year.
BizRate.com, which monitors 2,000 online merchants, issued a rosier estimate that claimed online sales for the day totaled $234.2 million, up 61% over last year.
Although Thanksgiving-plus-one is almost always a big day for bricks-and-mortar retailers, it has not been particularly rewarding for e-commerce. The Monday after Thanksgiving typically has been a bigger online retail day. Don’t tell the boss, but the reason is that more than 60% of online purchases are made by people at work.
“So many people now use computers at their offices that it’s easy for them to make their purchases there,” said ComScore researcher Max Kalehoff. “They are kind of held hostage anyway, and often it’s where they have a faster connection. It’s convenient.”
This year, an increase in the number of people using the Internet to make purchases gave Friday its heft.
“We are seeing a 30% increase in Internet shoppers over last year,” ComScore Vice President Dan Hess said Sunday. “We also now have data showing that people who have been already shopping online are this year doing more of it and making bigger purchases.”
This bodes well for today, Hess said. “Stay tuned. The Monday after Thanksgiving is usually a big day, when people get back to their broadband connections at work,” he said.
If online sales continue rising this shopping season, the one-day record could be broken handily. ComScore places that record at $262 million in non-travel goods, established last year on Dec. 12, a Wednesday.
But Kalehoff cautioned that online merchants shouldn’t gloat. Yet.
“There has been a lot of volatility from week to week,” he said of e-commerce figures. “That suggests a fragile economy. One week consumers feel good and the next week they don’t. We are getting mixed signals.”
Earlier this year, ComScore predicted that fourth-quarter online sales for non-travel products would increase 27% over last year to $13.8 billion.
