comScore: Overall holiday sales down, first time since 2001

comScore has tallied up the figures for the 2008 holiday season and, while most had no expectations of any real growth in the e-commerce sector, few expected a drop in sales. But it wasn't bad news across the board.

by Helen Leggatt

Online sales were down between November 1 and December 26, compared with 2007, according to an announcement from comScore. It's the first time since comScore began tracking e-commerce that holiday season sales have fallen. The online tracking company put the holiday season sales at $25.5 billion, down 3% from 2007's $26.3 billion.

Despite the drop in sales, unique visitors to retail websites rose 5% compared with last year, indicating that while more people were shopping online they were spending less.

However, for some e-commerce categories online sales outperformed offline, found comScore after comparing its data to that of MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse.

While overall apparel and accessory sales dropped 19%-21%, online sales in the category rose 4% and it was a similar trend for consumer electronics - a 5% decrease online compared with an overall decrease of 26%.

Fitness/sports products experienced the largest increase in online sales, rising 18% on 2007's figures.

"For an online holiday shopping season that recorded a disappointing 3-percent decline in sales, a positive note is that e-commerce trends outperformed overall consumer spending in several product categories, which is to say that e-commerce continued to capture an increasing share of consumers' wallet," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

"Clearly, 2008 was an extremely challenging time for many retailers, and the beginning of 2009 may not be much better. But when the consumer economy eventually does rebound, e-commerce is poised to benefit from its emergence as an important consumer sales channel," he added.

Tags: comScore, e-commerce, holiday, offline sales, online retailers, online sales