by Robin Fiedler
Online sales had all-around positive growth for the November 2009 Christmas-shopping season, but when it came to increased traffic on the Internet for US websites, sales-incentives websites and coupon websites won big, coming in first and third. 
The incentives websites had a 76% increase in traffic for new "unique visitors" while coupon websites had a 33% increase over the previous month, according to comScore. "Coupon sites ranked as the #3 top gaining category in November, growing 33 percent to 37.5 million visitors." Coupon and discount-deal websites offering more savings on top of retailers' holiday sale prices perhaps has a direct link to the increased appeal of online shopping.
In second place was toy sites with a 33% increase with over 27 million visitors, reports comScore. "Toysrus sites led the category with more than 14.8 million visitors (up 82 percent), ranking as the fourth top-gaining property in November. The LEGO Group grabbed the #2 position in the Toys category with 3.8 million visitors (up 12 percent), followed by Disney Shopping with 2.6 million (up 29 percent) and AmericanGirl.com with 1.9 million (up 44 percent)."
As far as individual retail websites, comScore reports that in November Walmart had over 49 million visitors for a 55% increase. Best Buy was second with almost 27 million visitors for a 67% increase in one month. A close third was Sears' websites with 26 million visitors with 53% increase. comScore's numbers calculate traffic, not sales, but the traffic indicates significant trends just as the brick and mortar retailers track shopper traffic.
Shopping traffic for Super Saturday in the concrete world did not fare as well. For the last Saturday before Christmas, traffic fell 12.4% according to ShopperTrak. Sales fell even more with a 12.6% drop from 2008. "In all, Saturday sales accounted for $6.9 billion, as opposed to $7.9 billion last year and $8.7 billion in 2007. Regionally, the Northeast (-17.3 percent) and South (-14.6 percent) showed the steepest Super Saturday sales declines, with the Midwest (-10.1 percent) and West (-7.1 percent) posting smaller losses," reports ShopperTrak.
For the entire weekend's brick-and-mortar sales, there was only a 2.1 percent drop and ShopperTrak attributes the drop to snowstorms keeping shoppers home. comScore also attributes sales on the bad weather, but for an increase in online sales. For the weekend Dec. 19-20, which includes Super Saturday, online sales were $767 million for a 13% increase over last year. comScore notes that it meant another record breaking online sales total for one week of online sales reaching 4.8 billion.
Coupon sites with discount deals, improved search options, larger selection, free shipping, and just plain convenience are all factors increasing online sales and traffic for holiday shopping. Granted, online shopping sales are still a small portion of overall retail sales, but the online saga continues to grow.
Resources
"comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top Growing Properties and Site Categories for November 2009." comScore. 28 Dec. 2009.
"'Super Saturday' Retail Sales Fall 12.6 Percent Compared to 2008; Traffic Slips 12.4 Percent." ShopperTrak.22 Dec. 2009.
"Wintry Weekend Boosts Online Holiday Sales in Final Shopping Weekend of the Season." comScore. 22 Dec. 2009.
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