comScore: Ecommerce grows only 1% in October

"It's clear that the increase in the country's unemployment rate along with the shock of the financial market meltdown have had a negative impact on the psyche of the American consumer, and the effects were clearly felt in the online retail sector," said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. "October represented the softest single-month of online retail growth on record, and we can only hope that the recent sharp drop in oil prices will cause a continued easing of inflation and a strengthening in consumer spending as we enter the critical holiday shopping season."

Prior to October, there had been slowdowns; in July the growth rate slowed to 8% and in August and September the grow rate continued to slip. From August through October the overall growth rate increased on 4% and actually declined 3% in households making less than $50,000 per year.

In addition to spending less, economic fears are continuing to grow. According to the report, consumers in all economic sectors are worried about rising prices (43%), unemployment (21%) and the financial markets (25%).

Tags: comScore, ecommerce, etailing, online shopping