by Doug Desjardins
Online sales continued to increase in June but, like brick-and-mortar retailers, they appeared to lose some momentum entering the summer.
A report from MasterCard Worldwide estimates e-commerce sales increased 9.7% in June, ending an eight-month streak of double-digit gains stretching back to October 2009. That increase included Memorial Day sales, since the period covered in the MasterCard survey ranged from May 30 to June 30.
“While there were spending shifts from May to June between industry sectors and segments, several sectors continue to show very modest growth compared to the building sales momentum in the first quarter of 2010,” said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Spending Pulse.
The leading category in June was apparel, with sales jumping 18.6 percent during the month despite just a 3.8 percent increase in sales of women’s apparel.
Consumers are expected to step up spending during the third quarter as they begin to buy back-to-school products, a category that’s expected to increase 9% this year according to a forecast from the National Retail Federation. According to the quarterly eBillme Online Spending Index survey conducted by research firm Javelin Strategy & Research, consumers plan to spend 8 percent more online in the third quarter than the second quarter and 20 percent more than the third quarter of 2009.
“Our index this quarter looks very promising for the retail industry,” said Marwan Forzely, president and CEO of eBillme. “Compared to last quarter and this time last year, these are the strongest projections we’ve seen. In addition, we are seeing a strong 13 percent decrease in the number of consumers delaying purchases due to the uncertainty of the economy. This is an opportunity to win new customers.”
Online sales of books and video games continued to gain steam in the second quarter as both categories approached – or even eclipsed - sales in brick-and-mortar stores. 
Amazon.com reported that it sold more Kindle e-books in the second quarter than standard hardcover books for the first time, a trend it attributed to lowering the price for Kindle.
“We’ve reached a tipping point with the new price of Kindle – the growth rate of unit sales has tripled since we lowered the price from $259 to $189,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “In addition, even as our hardcover sales continue to grow, the Kindle format has now overtaken the hardcover format. Amazon customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books – astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years and Kindle books for just 33 months.”
PC video games are trending the same way. According to the NPD Group, consumers purchased 21.3 million PC games online in 2009 compared to 23.5 million in stores. If online PC-game sales continue to grow in 2010, they will probably overtake store sales by the end of the year.
Resources
Online Spending Grew 9.7% in June
Summer Online Spending Projections Look Good
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