E-Commerce Sales Rise by 5 Percent to Reach $27 Billion for the 2009 Holiday Shopping Season Through Christmas Eve

comScore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported retail e-commerce spending for the holiday season from November 1 through Christmas Eve. During this period, approximately $27 Billion was spent online, which represents an increase of 5 percent over the same period a year ago. For the period from Black Friday through Christmas Eve, and after adjusting for the additional shopping day in 2009, sales grew by approximately 3.5 percent.

2009 Holiday Season vs. 2008
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore, Inc.
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Millions ($)
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Percent
2008 2009 Change
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November 1 - December 24 $25,845 $27,121 5%
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Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) $288 $318 10%
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Black Friday (Nov. 27) $534 $595 11%
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Cyber Monday (Nov. 30) $834 $887 5%
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Green Monday (Dec. 14) $859 $854 -1%
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Tuesday, Dec. 15 $754 $913 21%
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Weekend of Dec 19 - 20
(winter storm) $677 $767 13%
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*Individual days and weekends are compared to corresponding
shopping days in 2008

"Following last year's disappointing performance when sales fell by 3 percent, the e-commerce sector saw a positive 2009 holiday shopping season with sales up by 5 percent," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Online sales growth this year was driven by a continued increase in the number of people buying online, but consumers' economic challenges resulted in a slight decline versus last year in the amount spent per buyer. The season featured a strong start as a result of early retailer promotions and a very strong finish helped by the snow storms that occurred the weekend of Dec 19 - 20, retailers' willingness to offer free shipping later in the season, and consumers' confidence in expedited shipping arriving in time. This was also a year when retailers substantially boosted their use of social network marketing and the larger retailers significantly outperformed their smaller brethren. In these tough economic times, the retailers with sufficient financial resources and a willingness to invest in aggressive marketing and free shipping offers were clear winners. In terms of individual product categories, consumer electronics saw particularly strong sales growth of slightly over 20 percent, while jewelry and watches also turned in a strong performance, but which followed a very weak 2008 season."

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