Money Matters, Simplified.
Online Holiday Shopping Sales Go Up
Online retailers are certainly enjoying much rosier holiday shopping season than previously expected as many consumers used the Web to seek holiday discount deals.
by Priyanka - December 1, 2009 - comments
Black Friday, the name created by the retailers for the day after Thanksgiving, has long been seen as the important indicator for estimating how the holiday season will turn out for e-tailers and brick-and-mortar retailers.
According to the survey reports of the Internet tracking firm ComScore Inc., the initial sales figures are way better than last year’s Black Friday sales.
According to the analysts, this holiday season has definitely started very well for retailers, benefitting Wal-Mart Store Inc. (WMT.N), Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Google Inc. (GOOG.O) in particular.
ComScore report on Black Friday sales
According to the ComScore Inc.’s survey report, the last Friday’s sales totaled somewhere around $595 million, making it this year’s second heaviest online shopping day.
A spokesman for the ComScore, Andrew Lipsman, said that the total online Black Friday sales of 2009 till now have been 11 percent higher than last year.
The ComScore Chairman, Gian Fulgoni said in a statement, "While this acceleration in spending suggests the online holiday season may be shaping up slightly more optimistically than anticipated, it may also reflect the heavy discounting and creative promotions being put forth by retailers that now encompass the use of social networks, such as Face book and Twitter. Cyber Monday -- the traditional kick-off to the online holiday shopping season -- and the subsequent weeks will be the real test for how online retailers fare this season. That said this is a very encouraging start."
According to the ShopperTrak, retail stores sales have risen by 0.5 percent to $10.66 billion on the day holiday shopping season officially kicked off.
Companies that benefitted most this year
Amazon.com and Wal-Mart provided good holiday season deals online, and the rivals, in bid to keep up with them, also started attractive deals and free shipping deals.
Online stores benefitted the most during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, and were visited by more than four million customers.
The store that registered highest visits is Amazon.com, with visits up 28 percent from last year, followed closely by the Wal-Mart sites, growing up to 22 percent. Apple sites’ visits went 39 percent up, and the Best Buy’s by 24 percent.
Both Amazon.com and Wal-Mart.com did extremely well for themselves, more than any other Web site.
"Much attention has focused on Amazon and Wal-Mart this season, and both retailers performed particularly well online on Black Friday in terms of attracting visitors," said Fulgoni. "We will be watching closely to see how these retailers perform during these next critical weeks of the season."
One of the most prominent features dominating holiday shopping was free shipping for things purchased online to lure more and more customers to the sites.
Even the survey proved that more than 73 percent consumers accepted that the free shipping option played important role in deciding what product to buy.