2008 Holiday Season To Date vs. Equivalent Shopping Days in 2007 Online Retail Spending (Total U.S. Home/Work/University Locations) | |||
?Holiday Season to Date | Millions ($) |
|
|
| 2007 | 2008 | Pct Change |
November 1 - 28 | $10,839 | $10,410 | -4% |
November 27 (Thanksgiving Day) | $272 | $288 | 6% |
November 28 ("Black Friday") | $531 | $534 | 1% |
Source: comScore, Inc., November 2008 |
comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni, said "Early reports suggest that Black Friday sales in retail stores were slightly better than anticipated... and that performance apparently extended to the online channel, which saw sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday combined increase 2 percent versus year ago... Black Friday consumers responded positively to the very aggressive promotions and discounts being offered in retail stores... "
The Black Friday early morning rush online, between the hours of 4:00-8:00 AM, accounted for just 11 percent of the day's total online retail sales, while the period after 8:00 AM saw 84 percent of online sales take place. The 12:00- 4:00 PM segment represented the highest share of Black Friday online sales, with the hour of 12:00-1:00 PM being the heaviest individual hour of spending.
Black Friday Online Retail Spending by Time of Day(Total U.S. Home/Work/University Locations) | |
Black Friday Time of Day | Share of Dollars Spent |
12-4 AM | 5.5% |
4-8 AM | 10.9% |
8 AM - 12 PM | 23.1% |
12-4 PM | 24.2% |
4-8 PM | 17.2% |
8 PM - 12 AM | 19.1% |
Source: comScore, Inc., November 2008 |
The Monday after Thanksgiving, popularly known as "Cyber Monday," represents the first significant spike in online spending activity for the holiday season. The phenomenon results from Cyber Monday being the first working day following the Thanksgiving holiday and the fact that purchases from work still account for approximately half of all e-commerce spending.
Cyber Monday has historically proved to be an accurate bellwether for the overall performance of the online holiday shopping season, says the comScore report. While the year-over-year growth rates for individual online spending days vary quite significantly throughout the season, during the past few years Cyber Monday has been within a few percentage points of the final holiday season growth rate.
Cyber Monday Growth Rates Non-Travel (Retail) Spending 2005-2007(Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations) | ||
| Growth Rate vs. Prior Year | |
| Cyber Monday | Full Holiday Season |
2005 | 26% | 25% |
2006 | 26% | 26% |
2007 | 21% | 19% |
Source: comScore, Inc., November 2008 |
Fulgoni concluded, "Cyber Monday may well prove to be an important indicator of whether the decline in spending that we've seen during the first few weeks of the online holiday season will continue for the balance of the year."
In a comScore survey, conducted between Friday, November 21 and Monday, November 24, 33% of consumers said they had not even begun their holiday shopping yet. They also indicated they intended to cut back on holiday spending in several ways, most notably by buying fewer gifts (47% of respondents) and buying less expensive gifts (46% of respondents). Respondents also said they planned to employ the Internet to help cut costs, by taking advantage of free shipping and/or no sales tax (3%).
Holiday Shopping Cost Cutting Plans (2008Total U.S.Home/Work/University Locations) | |
| Percent of Respondents |
General Shopping |
|
Buying fewer gifts | 47% |
Buying less expensive gifts | 46% |
Using coupons I receive from my newspaper or via mail | 37% |
Spending more time searching for deals in stores | 32% |
Shopping early in the season to take advantage of sales and or discounts | 22% |
Shopping later in the season to take advantage of price reductions | 19% |
Online Shopping |
|
Shopping online to take advantage of free shipping, no tax, etc. | 39% |
Spending more time researching deals online | 37% |
Using online coupons or coupons I receive via email | 31% |
Using comparison shopping engines to find the best deals | 25% |
Shop online auction sites | 21% |
Shop online classifieds | 8% |
Using deal of the day sites | 8% |
Source: comScore, Inc., Holiday Shopping Survey, November 21-24, 2008 |
And this year the economic slowdown will have toy manufacturers and retailers in a bit of a panic according to the results from The Harris Poll survey of 2,303 adults, surveyed online between October 20 and 27, 2008.
Types Of Toys To Be Purchased This Year Year(% of Respondents who will purchase toys) | |
| % Total Respondents |
Children's books | 47% |
Games for consoles | 38 |
Board games | 33 |
Arts and crafts | 33 |
Dolls | 32 |
Handheld electronic games | 25 |
Building blocks and bricks | 23 |
Sports equipment | 22 |
Game consoles | 16 |
Something else | 28 |
Not sure | 13 |
Source: Harris Poll, November 2008 (Multiple Responses Allowed) |
According to Peter Shafer, Vice President of Harris Interactive's Youth Center of Excellence, "Toy manufacturers can't catch a break. Holiday toy spending last year was impacted by the toy recall in China, and this year it is the global economic downturn. But kids being kids are still lobbying their parents for their favorite toys. Kids tell Harris they want toys that are fun to play with and encourage creativity. Parents, even though spending for toys may be less, have heard the message and are shifting their purchases towards those favored toys."
For more about the comScore report, please go here.
For more about the Harris Poll, please go here.