Online US holiday spending from November 1 through Christmas Eve 2009 reached $27 billion, a 5% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to comScore. Consumer electronics led among product categories, recording sales growth of 20% over 2008 levels.
For the period from Black Friday through Christmas Eve, and after adjusting for the additional shopping day in 2009, sales grew approximately 3.5%.
"Online sales growth this year was driven by a continued increase in the number of people buying online, but consumers' economic challenges resulted in a slight decline versus last year in the amount spent per buyer," said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.
"This was also a year when retailers substantially boosted their use of social-network marketing and the larger retailers significantly outperformed their smaller brethren. In these tough economic times, the retailers with sufficient financial resources and a willingness to invest in aggressive marketing and free-shipping offers were clear winners."
Fewer Shoppers Finish Holiday Shopping
Just over three quarters of US consumers (78%) actually finished their Christmas shopping this year, according to separate research from America's Research Group (ARG).
Of those 22% of consumers who did not finish their shopping, 62.8% said they wanted a better deal before spending money. But many of those who didn't finish said they couldn't afford to spend more, reported ARG. Only 11% said bad weather prevented them from going shopping.
In normal years, 82-88% of consumers complete their holiday shopping.
This year, many people opted to give cash gifts instead.
Among those who opted for gift cards, $20 was the most popular gift-card amount; in 2008, the average range was $25-30.
Online shopping didn't compensate for loss of store traffic, as only 42.0% of shoppers said they bought gifts online, holding steady from the 41.0% reported last year.
