E-Commerce Racks Up a $2 Billion Week

14/12/2002

Online consumer spending racked up its first $2 billion week ever for the seven days ending Dec. 6, 2002, an all-time weekly spending record, according to measurement and analysis firm comScore Networks.

And the Internet spending spree has continued into this week, as spending on Monday, Dec. 8, 2002, reached $367.05 million, making it the largest sales day of the year to date, said comparison shopping site BizRate.com.

comScore said its sales estimates for the week reflect 34 percent growth versus last year’s post-Thanksgiving week.

Spending on non-travel goods and services increased 38 percent versus the same period a year-ago to a record $1.4 billion, while travel spending increased 24 percent to $567 million, comScore said.

BizRate said its estimate represents a 0.2 percent increase over the same day last week (Monday, Dec. 2).

“While travel spending was the dominant force pushing e-commerce trends higher in the off-season, non-travel sales have now become the growth engine, as consumers come online in droves to take advantage of the Internet’s convenience, competitive pricing and wide product selection,” said Michelle David Adams, comScore vice president.

comScore’s sales figures are based on measurements of actual buying activity conducted by a representative cross-section of more than 1.5 million Internet users at more than 50,000 online merchants and other commerce sites.

What’s selling best? BizRate said the top sales categories are computer hardware (including digital cameras), electronics, entertainment, apparel, and toys and games.

From Nov. 1 to Dec. 9, 2002, online sales grew to $8.37 billion from $5.86 billion for the same period last year, a 43 percent increase, according to BizRate figures.

comScore’s estimate of cumulative consumer online sales from Nov. 1, 2002 through the week ending Dec. 6 reached $8.2 billion, up 29 percent versus the same period last year.

By Beth Cox