• by Ray Schultz , June 8, 2020

Ecommerce sales surged by 81% in May compared to the same period last year, according to a study by ACI Worldwide.

This increase was driven by a 216% leap in the sportswear and sporting goods sector, 190% in housewares and DIY supplies and 84% in gaming.

The easing of lockdown restrictions in many countries has slowed growth in some sectors. For instance, gaming rose 126% in April.

But ticketing fell by 97% in May, with declines in travel of 73%, dating, 11% for May YoY, gift cards by 24% and telco by 12%.

Travel had an even worse falloff — 91% — in April.

Home office products such as monitors and webcams made up 10% of all electronics in May, down from 15% in March and 14% in April.

“People working from home are now set up, and we see spending shifting from home office supplies back toward consumer goods like sporting goods,” states Debbie Guerra, executive vice president, ACI Worldwide.

On the positive side, the fraud attempt rate was 3.4% in May, compared with 3.8% in May 2019 -- marking the first time this year that fraud decreased on a YoY basis. The rate was 5.3% in March and 4.4% in April.

But the average ticket price of attempted bilking rose by 18%, largely due to efforts aimed at electronics and retail goods.

The company advises consumers that coronavirus-themed emails that seek personal information are probably phishing scams.

ACI also reports that non-fraudulent chargebacks have gone up by 25% during the COVID-19 crisis, with the airline and ticketing sectors taking a particular hit, and that chargebacks are taking an average seven days longer to process.

The company says it analyzed hundreds of millions of ecommerce transactions.