Online holiday sales right on the money

By Anne D'Innocenzio
Associated Press

NEW YORK — Online sales this past holiday season turned out to be something to cheer about in an otherwise gloomy selling season, as more consumers turned to the Web for bargains, according to various company reports and surveys released this week.

The good news from the online front is far different from the brick-and-mortar world, which, with the exception of value-

oriented chains like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., struggled throughout the holiday season. Luxury retailers, in particular, were hit hard.

Bargain-hungry consumers found it was more efficient to find the best discounter online than to go from store to store, said Chuck Davis, chief executive of Bizrate.com, a Web site that tracks and compares 2,000 online sites.

Between Nov. 19 and Dec. 24, online sales, excluding travel, were up 36 percent to $6.57 billion, compared with $4.83 billion last year. Bizrate.com had projected a gain of 31 percent.

The average online purchase this past holiday season was $126, up from last year's $112, Davis said.

A separate report from comScore Networks Inc., a Reston, Va.-based research firm, said the online sales during the wider fourth-quarter period were coming in ahead of projections.

From Oct. 1 to Dec. 23, holiday sales, excluding travel, totaled $9.6 billion. ComScore now expects fourth-quarter online sales to reach $10.5 billion, up nearly 15 percent from a year ago, and up from earlier projections of $10 billion to $10.25 billion.

Michael P. Niemira, vice president of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd., said he expects an anemic average annual gain of 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent in holiday season sales for the 88 brick-and-mortar stores he tracks.

That likely would be the worst performance in the 30 years Niemira has tracked retail data. Niemira's previous projection was for sales growth of about 2 percent, which still would be the worst showing since at least 1990.

Most of the brick-and-mortar retailers will be reporting their December sales on Thursday.

Wall Street analysts are closely watching Amazon.com, the bellwether of the online retail industry, to see whether it delivers on its promise for fourth-quarter pro forma operating profitability. Amazon drew 199 million shopping visits this past holiday season, a 49 percent increase from a year ago. Its quarterly report is due Jan. 22.