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Is online selling gaining more momentum?

Written by Tom Ryan

E-commerce by all indications delivered another strong holiday selling season in 2014, marked by solid double-digit growth. At the same time, a new report shows brick & mortar suffered a steep decline over the same period.

Online sellers spread buys across the period with aggressive targeted promotions both after and well before Black Friday weekend. Increased usage of mobile devices, whether tablets or smartphones, also helped. Omnichannel efforts by traditional brick & mortars also likely boosted online purchases.

According to comScore, U.S. e-commerce spending from desktop computers during November/December grew 15 percent year-over-year, slightly ahead of expectations. The gain exceeded 2013's holiday increase of 10 percent and 2012's gain of 14 percent.

ComScore noted that the results came despite a shortened holiday calendar between Thanksgiving and Christmas and after "erroneous reports of flagging holiday sales."

In another bullish report, the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark showed that overall November/December online sales — including mobile sales — were up 13.9 percent. Mobile sales accounted for 22.6 percent of all online sales for the season and increased 27.2 percent year-over-year.

Other findings in the IBM report:

  • Ther average order value was $119.33, down eight percent over 2013, with shoppers purchasing an average of four items per order. The average order value spent while shopping on PCs was $125.12 compared to $104.82 on mobile devices;
  • Mobile accounted for 45 percent of online traffic for the holiday season, an increase of 25.5 percent year-over-year;
  • Desktop PC traffic represented 54.8 percent of online traffic and 77.3 percent of online sales. Smartphones drove 31.2 percent of online traffic and 9.1 percent of sales. Tablets accounted for 13.4 percent of both online traffic and online sales.

The positive online results came as RetailNext, which specializes in retail analytics for physical stores, on Thursday reported a 6.5 percent year-over-year decrease in sales on a 7.1 percent decline in traffic at brick-and-mortar stores for the month of December. The firm previously reported an 11 percent decrease in U.S. store sales on an 11.4 percent decline in store traffic for November.

"Early-November and late-December had the most positive results for retail stores," said Shelley Kohan, RetailNext's VP of retail consulting, in a statement. "While digital stole the show in between and captivated shoppers with aggressive promotional strategies, retailers who were able to effectively converge digital and physical channels to encapsulate the entire period will show the most positive results for the holiday season."

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