Study: Online holiday sales merry, but not very
108177
Researcher says U.S. shoppers will fork out $13.2 billion online this season, but year-over-year increases are slipping.
756158
(InfoWorld) - The 2006 holiday shopping period got off to a strong start over the weekend, according to several e-commerce operators. The Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday is typically seen as the start of the holiday sales season in the U.S. and retail outlets across the nation see some of the largest crowds of the year on that day. In recent years, online retailers also report strong traffic on the day. While consumers may be opening their wallets to online retailers like never before, there's also evidence they are after bargains like never before. Two online price comparison sites, which point consumers to the lowest prices for various items, reported surging traffic. Pricegrabber.com said it's seen a 45 percent increase year-over-year in referrals to merchants for November to date. In some categories, including toys, sporting goods and apparel, the amount of traffic sent to retailers by Pricegrabber has more than doubled, it said. Rival site Shopping.com reported a 40 percent jump in November-to-date referrals to online retailers and said hot categories include kids and family, home and garden, and clothing and accessories. Despite the strong traffic, Monday is likely to be busier, said Shopping.com. Last year visitors to the site peaked between noon and 2 p.m. on Monday. Two of the season's hottest holiday gift items, the recently-launched PlayStation 3 and Wii games consoles, have been selling fast on Ebay. In the week to Nov. 24, 14,675 PlayStation 3 and 26,708 Wii consoles were sold through the site. The average price of the PS3 was US$1,186.39 while the Wii fetched an average $412.53, according to eBay Marketplace Research. Both prices are well above their suggested retail prices. Other hot electronics items include the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. BDP-1000 Blu-ray Disc player and Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod nano and iPod Shuffle, the company said.
269726
Retailers are on track to post solid but not spectacular sales for the holidays after a last-minute dash to stores, according to indicators released yesterday.
77756
Online holiday shoppers this year are making cash registers jingle and meeting analysts&#39; expectations as they spent $8.8 billion in November, researchers said Monday.
321515
Online shoppers in the United States spent &#36;23.2 billion during the holidays, excluding travel, up 25 percent from the 2003 season, according to a new survey from Goldman, Sachs & Co., Harris Interactive and Nielsen/NetRatings.
180678
Although sales figures for the holiday shopping season are not yet available, analysts expect electronics to be among the best-selling categories.
639730
The holiday shopping season ended better than it started, and most retailers are on track to meet humble sales goals. Still, many hope for an extra boost this week as consumers cash in gift cards.
542576
Consumers in the United States are already spending record amounts of money online. One e-commerce company has a novel way to help Net shoppers hunt for bargains this holiday season.
635090
Hitwise, an online &quot;competitive intelligence&quot; service, has more interesting statistics about online holiday shopping. According to Hitwise, Shopping and Classifieds sites claimed an unprecedented 9.1 percent
551618
In spite of a burst of Friday spending, the holiday shopping season got off to a sluggish start, forcing retailers to reassess their strategies for luring buyers. Slow sales reported by three retail sales trackers on Tuesday were blamed on higher fuel costs and an overall lack of confidence in the economy.
419867
Online retail sales from Nov. 1 through Friday were up 25% over 2005, says Internet market research firm ComScore Networks. ComScore says last Wednesday was likely the biggest online shopping day of the year and, with nearly $670 million in sales, topped last year's No. 1 day by over $100 million.
231114
Some surveys find that as of last weekend, consumers had completed less than 15 percent of their holiday shopping.
623471
Many online merchants this year will still sell goods with standard shipping terms through Monday, Dec. 18, or Tuesday, Dec. 19, a boon for late holiday shoppers.
31425
A shopping spree before and after Christmas helped many of the nation's retailers meet their holiday sales goals, but heavy discounting to lure customers into the stores came at the expense of profits, Wall Street analysts believe.
324487
U.S. retailers were on track to post  solid -- but not spectacular -- sales this holiday after a  last-minute dash to stores saved Christmas, according to three  retail indices on Tuesday.
62409
The holiday season may not reach 2003 levels but will be up, National Retail Federation says. By Joan Verdon. Hackensack, NJ - The holidays will be slightly less jolly for retailers this year, but they still
71883
hoAs the holiday season wound down, U.S. residents kept on shopping significantly more than they did in 2006, particularly on the day after Christmas, but they also reported being less satisfied with e-tailers, according to a pair of studies.