Well I just got back from what seemed to be a whirlwind of a holiday. It seems like I just finished shopping, wrapping (well mostly throwing things in gift bags), and cooking. It's amazing how much
preparation I went through to have it fly on by. I had a wonderful time though, and I hope you did too.
There's not much posted yet in our world of Net news. I'm waiting for final numbers to come
in, but the bottom line is, online retail rocked this holiday season. The good news for us is that Americans spend a lot more of their money online this year.
In the first six weeks of the
holiday season (November and December), shoppers spent an estimated $16.7 billion online, according to a report by Goldman Sachs, Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive. Overall spending was up 28
percent from a year ago, based on survey data.
So what were the fastest growing categories this year? Take a look:
Fastest Growing Categories Year-Over-Year, Weeks 1-6
advertisement advertisement Category | 2004 Revenue in Millions | 2003 Revenue in
Millions | 2004/2003 % Growth |
Music | $871 | $655 | 32.9% |
Video/DVD | $1,605 | $1,214 | 32.2% |
Jewelry | $949 | $718 | 32.2% |
Books | $1,330 | $1,046 | 27.1% |
Toys/Video Games (hardware and software) | $1,927 | $1,576 | 22.3% |
As you can see, there seems to be an increase in these categories. Why you may
ask? Well, some say the increase is due to broadband penetration (especially among women). I think it is a convenience factor. Most sites let consumers order as late as Dec. 23 for next day delivery.
The majority of sites offered free or very low shipping rates. Certainly I am not the norm however, I did most of my shopping online. After I drove by the mall and saw the traffic, angry drivers, and
lack of parking spaces, I opted out.
According to BizRate.com, December 9 was the busiest shopping day. Purchases totaled $367 million. Last-minute shoppers had a few options, which included
ordering online for in-store pickup at some retailers as late as 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, or buying e-gift certificates from a wide range of merchants.
FedEx said the period from December 20 to
December 21 was the busiest of the holiday season, at least for overnight deliveries. Lourdes Pena, a FedEx spokeswoman, said the company handled an eye-popping 4.5 million overnight packages that
Monday.
Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, a discount retailer, said his site's sales were up 75 percent from last year. He predicted that when the dust settles, e-commerce sales growth overall
this year will exceed industry expectations. Overstock's busiest day was Dec. 16. This was a later date than past years.
"People take about two years before they get comfortable shopping online,"
Byrne said. "Women caught up with men in Internet usage in 2000 and 2001. This was the first Christmas where you had women turning to the Internet in a serious way (for holiday shopping), and then you
had the whole snow thing in the East. You put that together and I think the projections (for online holiday spending) will turn out to have been way low."
No matter how you slice it, $16.7
billion spent in a six-week period online is not a bad gig. This is definitely something to ring in the New Year with. Cheers!