14 DAY TRIAL // The world economy is not exactly booming, but if online sales are any indication, it is recovering, at least in the US, the catalyst of the recession that hit many countries in the past couple of years. Online sales are up for the holiday season so far and Black Friday, a day with special offers from many online as well as brick-and-mortar retailers, saw an increase in sales from last year of nine percent.
According to comScore, sales so far have seen a healthy increase from the same period last year. In the first weeks of November, up to November 26, online sales increased by 13 percent, reaching $11.64 billion, compared to $10.31 billion in the same period in 2009.
“Although Black Friday is known for the flurry of activity occurring in brick-and-mortar retail stores, online shopping is increasingly becoming the refuge of those preferring to avoid the crowds and long lines,” comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni said.
“The $648 million in online spending this Black Friday represents the heaviest online spending day of the season-to-date and a solid increase over last year’s Black Friday," he said.
"Interestingly, we are also seeing consumers beginning to buy online in a more meaningful way on Thanksgiving Day, which has historically seen low buying activity,” he added.
On Thanksgiving Day, sales saw a 28 percent increase over the previous year reaching $407 million.
Along with stronger sales, traffic to online retailers also saw a boost. Amazon.com was the single biggest winner seeing a 25 percent increase in unique visitors.
Overall, comScore estimates that sales for the 2010 holiday period will reach $32.4 billion, an 11 percent improvement over the previous year.
What's more, online sales are expected to top $1 billion in the US today, on what is called Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. This will be the first time this has happened.