US e-commerce registers first year-over-year drop: down 4% in November 2008 - studyUS online shopping dropped 4 percent to $8.19 billion during the first 23 days of November as compared to $8.51 billion posted during the corresponding period of the previous year, according to a study.
This is the first-ever year-over-year drop in e-commerce spending in US since the e-commerce category was established, the same study reveals. Such a drop is the result of low consumer confidence in online shopping, as well as a "tight disposable income". For this holiday shopping season, the study predicts that online retail spending is to be in line with the holiday sales during November-December 2007, namely $29.2 billion.
The research firm which conducted the study, comScore, says that holiday online retail spending for the last months of 2008 is to remain flat as a result of a volatile stock market, declining housing prices, inflation and the instable job market.
According to a second survey conducted by the same company between 21 and 24 November, 33 percent of US consumers claim they have not started to make purchases yet. The respondents who are willing to make online purchases this holiday season have expressed their intention to reduce holiday spending by taking advantage of various promotions or free services (39 percent), spending more time looking for deals on the internet (37 percent), making use of online coupons or those received via emails (31 percent), turn to comparison shopping engines (25 percent) or make purchases on online auction sites (21 percent).
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