Late Surge Boosts Holiday Internet Sales
217979
Holiday Web sales are running ahead of forecast as online gift certificates helped give Internet retailers a chance to participate in U.S. consumers' last-minute shopping spree, Internet research firm comScore Networks said on Wednesday.
143694
EBay was the online winner this  "Black Friday," data published on Saturday showed, but overall  Internet traffic growth was well below last year's even as  bargain hunters tracked down sought-after toys and electronics  on the Web before "Cyber Monday."
704587
Holiday shoppers gravitated toward the Internet in big numbers late last year, with online retailers reaping some US&#36;23 billion from U.S. consumers. That figure marks a 25 percent increase from the &#36;18.5 billion spent online during the same period in 2003.
518282
Researchers report Web shoppers are busier and happier than last year, as the holiday arrives and online sales finally slow.
400029
This season&#39;s dismal holiday-sales numbers may be hiding strong results from online operations, home improvement, consumer electronics and luxury stores that can offset the nation&#39;s mall malaise.
594728
E-tailers have laggards and penny-pinchers to thank for last week&#39;s brisk sales, which grew 25 percent over the comparable period last year, according to comScore.Procrastinators and deal-seekers helped create a &quot;flurry&quot; of online spending last week in the U.S., keeping retail e-sales strong, comScore said Sunday.Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 21 -- the first 51 days of the holiday season -- U.S. shoppers have spent $26.3 billion online, up 19 percent compared with the corresponding period last year.So far, the heaviest online shopping day this season was Dec. 10, the so-called &quot;Green Monday,&quot; a term coined by eBay for the second Monday in December, which the vendor has identified as particularly heavy e-sales day. U.S. shoppers spent $881 million that day, up 33 percent from the corresponding day in 2006.By contrast, Cyber Monday, the first workday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., ranks as this holiday season&#39;s ninth heaviest online shopping day, with $733 million in sales. Cyber Monday is considered the day when holiday online shopping kicks into high gear.Overall, comScore expects this year&#39;s holiday season to generate about $29.5 billion in online spending, which would represent a 20 percent increase from the same period in 2006.
207467
Internet retailer Amazon.com reported record holiday sales, coaxed by hot demand for electronic consumer goods such as the Apple iPod music player.
525809
Spending by Americans shopping online during this year&#39;s holiday season rose 24 percent to $8.8 billion, with sharp gains in purchases of clothing and entertainment, Web company VeriSign Inc.
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.
168680
It's shaping up to be a very  merry holiday season for online retailers.
333246
Online retailers had a better-than-expected start to the holiday season, according to one Internet research firm that tracks online sales.
478424
Online consumers in the United States spent &#36;8.8 billion, excluding travel purchases, in November, a 19 percent jump over the &#36;7.4 billion spent online a year earlier, a report released on Monday said.
615640
Last-minute shopping helped U.S.  retailers boost sales in December after a slow start to the  holiday season, but hefty discounting caused some companies to  warn profits may be squeezed,
408774
By Andria Cheng  U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart Stores and Federated Department Stores are pushing Internet sales this holiday season with Web site overhauls and increased investment - and for good reason.
508441
U.S. chain store retail sales rose in the latest week, due to a late pre-Christmas surge in spending, a report said on Tuesday.
163102
Online holiday spending, excluding travel and auctions, was &#36;8.41 billion between Nov. 1 through Dec. 5, up 23 percent from the year-ago period and on track to meet estimates, comScore Networks said Friday.
369805
Post-holiday discounts and shoppers redeeming gift cards helped boost retail sales 14 percent for the last full week of December, according to data released on Wednesday.