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Global Internet Audience More Than 1 Billion

Christina Lee — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:37:51 +0000

Over 1 billion people from around the world now use the Internet, according to a study released today by comScore.

The study comes after the online research firm found that more than 824 million people used the Internet in March 2008.

The United States only ranked second to China in representing the largest Internet audience of the world. With more than 163 million people online, the United States represents 17.8 percent of the total global Internet audience, after making up for 21 percent in March.

The number of Internet users in the Asia Pacific region continues to grow rapidly, as it still represents 41 percent of the global Internet audience.

“The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that,” said Magid Abraham, comScore president and CEO, in a statement.

While reaching 77 percent of Internet users, Google remains the top-ranking Internet property – though now with 222 million users, the popularity of Facebook.com has grown by 127 percent. As the eighth most popular online property, Amazon.com has also become the highest-ranking online retailer, according to the study.

SpendingPulse Detects Little Pre-Xmas Retail Activity

Christina Lee — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:38:25 +0000

Reports of this year’s pre-Christmas retail environment showed that, despite deep discounts and high hopes, consumers did not shop as much as they did last year.

Retail sales are expected to fall by 8 percent in December through Christmas Eve, after falling 5.5 percent last month, according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse report. Both declines, with the economy and weather in mind, added up to “one of the most challenging holiday shopping seasons in decades,” said Michael McNamara, vice-president of research and analysis.

With the average price per gallon down by almost 50 percent compared to last year, gasoline sales also dragged down total retail sales in December. Excluding gasoline, total sales had dropped by just 2 percent, according to the report.

And while lower gas prices usually lead to more shopping trips, very few storefronts survived this season’s battle in scrounging up sales without losing traffic. Retailers that saw increased traffic right before Christmas include Target, Best Buy, and Toys“R”Us – though their gains, even combined, could not compare to Wal-Mart’s 36 percent rise from last year, according to America’s Research Group.

While sales in specialty, men’s and women’s apparel all fell by at least 16 percent, MasterCard’s SpendingPulse noted that online retail sales “continues to be an area of relative strength” during the holiday season. However, other reports delivered mixed results.

According to comScore, last weekend’s online spending totaled $677 million – a figure that can be interpreted in two very different ways, with five less days in this holiday shopping season. As both the fourth weekend after Thanksgiving and the last weekend before Christmas, this year’s Dec. 20-21 sales can be interpreted as either a 17 percent year-to-year loss or almost a 100 percent gain, respectively.

“A positive late-season boost for online retail perhaps,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, “but it’s ultimately not going to do much to make up for the significantly shorter shopping season this year.”

Studies Show, More Last-Minute Shopping This Holiday Season

Christina Lee — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:09:24 +0000

Recent consumer behavior studies revealed that last-minute shoppers may impact holiday season sales more than ever this year.

As of Dec. 16, while the average consumer completed 47.1 percent of their shopping – down 52.6 percent from last year – over 41 million people had not even started, according to the National Retail Federation.

Most of these consumers will be looking for apparel, while 40.8 percent will shop for books, CDs, movies and video games. They ranked discounter, department and specialty stores as their three most popular shopping destinations for the rest of their holiday shopping.

Last-minute shoppers are also turning more to the Internet than they have in years past. Last week they brought the online retail market four of its biggest-selling days of the holiday season, according to comScore. Monday, Dec. 15 became the second heaviest spending day with $859 million, while Free Shipping Day on Thursday, Dec. 18 brought in $764 million.
Researchers have long figured that, with five days less than last year, a shorter shopping season could result in lower holiday sales.

“Procrastinators are in good company this year because a shorter window between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year means that the holidays have snuck up on many of us,” said Tracy Mullin, National Retail Federation president and CEO, in a statement.

But they also wonder, with this year’s recession, if consumers are simply shopping more consciously, perhaps waiting for last-minute blowout sales. As Dr. Timothy A. Pychyl wrote in Psychology Today, “Remember, all procrastination is delay, but not all delay is procrastination.”

Weakness Seen in Black Friday Sales, Anticipated in Cyber Monday Too

Christina Lee — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:38:36 +0000

Though more shoppers sought out post-Thanksgiving discounts this year, sales figures released so far provide little hope for high profits for the remainder of the holiday season.
Traditionally at brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday, and more recently at online stores on the following Cyber Monday, consumers have learned to eagerly pursue some of the lowest markdowns they will see over the holiday season. But with this year’s price cuts and overall consumer behavior, experts still wonder if retailers have been able to reap any profits this holiday season.
Consumer spending over the Black Friday weekend – running Thursday through Sunday – rose by 7.2 percent among more than 172 million shoppers, up from 147 million shoppers last year, according to the National Retail Federation .
But in contrast, the International Council of Shopping Centers found that retail sales rose by only 0.1 percent from the week before and by 1.3 percent from 2007.
“Black Friday sales were good due to bargains, but one good day did not fundamentally reverse the underlying weak spending trend throughout the month,” said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist, in a statement.
Lower retail sales resulted from heavier discounts, according to Richard Shaw, QVM Group investment advisor. “From that perspective, we imagine more is less this Black Friday,” he wrote in Seeking Alpha.
As brick-and-mortar store fronts cut prices in preparation for the holiday season, more retailers than ever – above 83 percent – surveyed by Shopzilla said they intended to participate in Cyber Monday. Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation found that more than 84 million people intended to shop online that day, up from 72 million last year.
Cyber Monday traditionally represents “the first significant spike in online holiday spending activity,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of research firm comScore , in a statement. While that day’s sales reports have yet to be released, experts have already deemed this year’s Monday to be less of a turning point and more of a continuum for this year’s characteristically cautious consumer spending
“We expect Cyber Monday to be relatively weak, since it’s very credit card sensitive,” said Richard Hastings, consumer strategist for Global Hunter Securities LLC, to Reuters. “We’re hearing consistence reports of more use of cash and debit cards in stores. That could weigh in on Cyber Monday.”
While keeping this year’s Black Friday online sales in mind – being just slightly better than anticipated – Fulgoni still considers Cyber Monday notable, but now for a different reason.
“With so much volatility right now in the variables that influence consumer spending, predicting where this online holiday season will end up has been far more challenging that in previous years,” he said. “That said, 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.”

NRF: Fewer Online Retailers Expect Sales Increase This Holiday Season

Christina Lee — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:26:35 +0000

Though the Internet will remain a popular destination for shoppers this holiday season, fewer retailers expect their sales to increase significantly, according to a recent survey.

The National Retail Federation found that the number of consumers shopping online – 44.2 percent – has remained almost flat since last year. In the meantime however, compared to 77.5 percent of retailers last year, only 56.1 percent of them expect holiday sales to increase by at least 15 percent.

In addition, the Internet will continue to influence an increasing number of holiday purchases – at least 33.6 percent this year, compared to 30.2 percent last year. But most consumers use it to research potential retail purchases, looking up store locations, gift ideas, and prices, according to the National Retail Federation.

To draw this year’s cost-conscious shoppers, most retailers – at least 78 percent – will offer free shipping with conditions at some point during the holiday season, despite rising transportation costs. More than 40 percent of them plan to compensate costs by renegotiating with shipping providers.

The D.C. trade group and Shopzilla released its study less than a week after comScore, an Internet research group, reported for the third fiscal quarter a mere 6 percent growth in online retail sales.