E-Commerce Spending Peaks A Week Before Xmas: Survey
The lofty $1.2 billion weekly level in online spending reached during Dec. 5-12 fell to just under $900 million during the week ended Dec. 19, according to data from a jointly commissioned survey released by Goldman Sachs/PC Data Online.
Despite the 25% drop, spending levels were still above the pre-holiday levels seen in November. But among the 17 categories tracked, only one, travel, showed a significant increase from the previous week, growing from $118.9 million to $130.4 million. Computer software, at $73.5 million, while health and beauty products notched up slightly, from $28.5 million to $30.2 million.
For the week, computer hardware had the highest sales, at $169.7 million, (off from$217.9 million) followed by travel. Toys, at $$101.9 million, nearly half the week-earlier level of $197.1 million.
“[In the week leading up to Dec. 19] we saw modest declines in both the number of shoppers and how much they were spending,” said PC Data Online’s Internet analyst Cameron Meierhoefer in a statement.
According to Meierhoefer, trends in online spending will largely depend on e-tailers’ willingness to adopt retail post-holiday bargain practices. “Post-holiday consumers look specifically for bargains and will look to see whether online retailers are ready to compete with their brick-and-mortar competitors.”
The survey was conducted among 3,004 home-based Internet users between Dec. 17-21.
