US online holiday sales surged 30 percent from a year earlier as sites including Amazon.com Inc and Bluefly Inc benefited from consumers becoming more savvy with Internet shopping, according to ComScore Networks Inc.
Sales excluding travel and auctions in the November to December period climbed to US$12.5 billion from US$9.67 billion during the 2002 holiday season, said ComScore, a Reston, Virginia-based Internet measurement company. Sales rose at a faster pace than the 19 percent holiday gain a year earlier.
Web sales was in line with ComScore's forecast for a gain of 25 percent to 30 percent as merchants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, sold everything from artificial Christmas trees to televisions online. Amazon.com reported the strongest holiday sales in its nine-year history as it added shops featuring jewelry and gourmet foods and drew shoppers with free shipping.
"Not only did we grow at more than 35 percent, but we believe our gross margins will be better than last year," Bluefly chief executive officer Kenneth Seiff said in an interview. Demand for the company's designer and luxury goods jumped by shoppers who are more comfortable making gift purchases on line.
Amazon's fourth-quarter sales rose 31 percent to US$1.87 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Financial.
That tops the Seattle-based company's 28 percent jump in fourth- quarter revenue last year. Amazon signed up 60 celebrities who provided exclusive music, writings and other content free of charge on the site during the holidays.
Internet sales for all of 2003 rose 22 percent to US$52 billion from US$43 billion a year earlier, ComScore said. Annual sales rose at a slower pace than holiday sales because of lower gains earlier this year due to the Iraq war, the research firm said.
Shares of Amazon.com, the world's No. 1 Internet retailer, fell US$0.72 to US$51.90 at 4pm in NASDAQ Stock Market trading. Bluefly, based in New York, rose US$0.04 to US$4.09.
Overall retail sales, including traditional stores and online merchants, were expected to rise 5.7 percent to US$217.4 billion in the two-month holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation, an industry group.
More orders were placed later in the season, a sign that consumers felt more confident using the Internet to shop for holiday gifts, said Chuck Davis, chief executive of closely held BizRate.com, a comparison-shopping site.
"Retailers stretched their seasons longer by offering last- minute overnight shipping," Davis said. Women accounted for 61 percent of holiday online purchases, up from 58 percent a year earlier.
That's significant since women do most of the shopping for US households, he said.
Free-shipping offers were more prevalent than last year with 700 retailers featuring no-cost delivery on BizRate's site versus 150 last year, Davis said.
While 40 percent of shoppers said their purchases were influenced by free-shipping offers, only 16 percent were able to take advantage, Davis said.
Amazon.com offers free delivery for certain orders over US$25 provided buyers are willing to accept longer shipping times.
"Retailers have gotten better at promoting an incentive that has caveats," Davis said.
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