How does $846 million sound?
Cyber Monday is thought by some to be an indicator of the holiday shopping season to come. This day happened to be the second highest online spending day on record. According to comScore, this gain was driven by a 22-percent increase in the number of buyers, while the average dollars spent per buyer declined by 5 percent versus year ago.
The increase in traffic represents approximately 2 million buyers half of whom did their shopping at the office. Sinners.
Traffic on BestBuy.com increased by 131% (average daily unique traffic during the month of November 2008 compared to December 1, 2008). The site was 6th of all online retailers unique traffic measured by comScore. Buy.com, not listed on comScore’s Top 20 list of online retailers, reported that it set a company sales record on Black Friday, which was then broken again on Cyber Monday. Both days realized about 40% greater revenues. Prior to Black Friday, Buy.com announced that shoppers using PayPal to make purchases on Buy.com would receive up to $20 off purchases in addition to free shipping.
So, what was once the 12th biggest online shopping day of the year once thought to be merely an overhyped marketing whimsy is now #1. And with unnecessary tragedies occurring year after year on Black Friday, Cyber Monday revenues should continue to uptrend.
BY FOOT. ShopperTrak.com, which analyses the movement of shoppers in retail environments, reported a slight retail sales increase while posting a rather large drop in total U.S. foot traffic for the Black Friday weekend. The company’s National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE) and Retail Traffic Index (SRTI) showed a 0.9 percent increase and 19.3 percent decrease respectively for the three-day period as compared to 2007.
CostCo Wholesale Corporation reported its November sales results (for the four-week period ended November 30, 2008) today. Sales in the U.S. were down 2% while International sales were down 15% resulting in an aggregate decline of 5%. More detailed results provided by Bob Nelson via a pre-recorded telephone message suggested that the negative impact of gas deflation and unfavorable foreign exchange rates were to blame for the negative results. International sales comparisons (Nov 2007 vs. Nov 2008) were actually up 6.5% based on local currencies, but when converted to US$ resulted in the 15% detriment.
Nelson also added that “…foods, fresh foods, and consumables [remained favorable] while our non-foods business continues to be down from last year.” Gasoline alone negatively impacted comparable sales by 3.7%. Price per gallon of gas in November 2007 was $3.01 versus $2.02 per gallon in November 2008.
The “bright spot” in November for non-foods is TV sales, which result from an increase in unit sales of approximately 50%. After shopping at CostCo myself on Black Friday, every check out line included someone buying a new TV…and an oversized tub of whipping cream (don’t ask, don’t tell). There were even a couple of customers hauling two out the door.
Unlike the numbers reported by ShopperTrak.com, CostCo’s average transaction in November was down 7.5% (including gas and foreign exchange effects). However, warehouse traffic is up 2.8% (year-over-year) and up 2.5% from October 2008. Goes to show how relatively recession proof CostCo’s product mix may be.
Looks like you’ve got a new plan for 2009. Buy a new Acer laptop, go to CostCo to gas up the car and get some groceries, and hop on the Internet superhighway on Cyber Monday.
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