Online Sales Rise In December

December 21, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on December 22, 2008  Online retail sales are up 1 percent in December versus last year and sales-per-day have increased 5 percent to $643 million since Thanksgiving. But analysts predict point-and-click holiday sales will finish up lower due to this year's shortened shopping season, according to Reston, Va.-based comScore, which tracks the online retailing market.

From Nov. 1 through Dec. 19, online sales are down 1 percent to $24.029 million, but for the Dec. 1 to Dec. 19 period, sales increased 1 percent to $12.849 million.

"With five fewer days of holiday shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, there is increasing pressure on consumers to make their holiday purchases in time for Christmas," said comScore Chairman Gian Fuloni. "As a result, we've seen online shoppers continue to spend heavily even later into the season, with the most recent week including four of the top 10 spending days of the season."

The home, garden and furniture category is down 16 percent from a year ago. Top categories with strong spending increases include sports and fitness product (up 31 percent), books and magazines (18 percent), and videogames and related products (17 percent).