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RSS FeedHow did 2009 ecommerce and holiday sales go????
According to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, a macro-economic report tracking national retail and service sales, today provided summary results for the holiday shopping season. The data showed year-over-year growth in the period between Black Friday through December 24 in all sectors measured. In addition, six out of ten sectors showed positive growth in the period from November 1 through December 24.
SpendingPulse analyzed the Electronics, Specialty (Apparel), eCommerce and Luxury sectors. Here are the end of season highlights:
eCommerce
eCommerce was the big winner this year, with seasonal sales up 15.5% during the period November 1 – December 24. Since Black Friday, eCommerce sales were up 18%. This sector has shown year-over-year improvement every week since the beginning of the season, with double-digit growth in all but one of those weeks.
Apparel
Specialty Apparel made something of a recovery, finishing down only 0.4% for the season to date beginning on November 1st. Since Black Friday through December 24, the category is actually in positive territory, showing a 2.3% year-over-year gain. However, the extra shopping day helped the sales growth rates.
Women’s Apparel sales were down 0.3% for the season to date beginning on November 1st. Taking a Black Friday to December 24 view, this category also finished the season in slightly positive territory, up 1.5%, but again benefiting from the additional shopping day.
Men’s Apparel continued to show strength in the two weeks prior to December 24, bringing the November 1 – December 24 season’s year-over-year growth up 3.9%. Footwear sales have likewise improved, ending with an increase of 5% over the November-December period of last year.
Electronics
After a strong November, electronics sales began to slow down in the first two weeks of December. A spike in the week prior to December 24 helped the category finish the season up 5.9% for the November-December period and up 6% in the Black Friday to December 24 period.
Jewelry and Luxury
After a volatile two months, Jewelry ended the season up 5.6%, with both high and low ends of the category showing marked strength. Again the extra shopping day helped the year-over-year growth rate. Although the Luxury retail ex-jewelry category showed some weekly improvement throughout December, it finished the season more with a slight increase of 0.8% over the 2008 holiday season. Luxury is another category that would have been lower without the additional shopping day this year.
SpendingPulse(TM)
Data Source: A macro-economic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and service sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.
More on this article at:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/spendingpulse-2009-holiday-wrap-up-report,1102266.shtml
