More Americans shopping online
Monday, 30 November 2009 19:00After a modest start to the US holiday shopping season with 'Black Friday', online retailers are looking to 'Cyber Monday' for a boost in sales.
According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent $41.2 billion over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, seen as the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season, compared to $41.0 billion a year ago.
Many more Americans hit stores and websites - 195 million compared to 172 million a year ago - but their average spending fell to $343.31 per person from $372.57.
According to Internet tracking firm comScore, e-commerce spending hit $595m on Black Friday, up 11% over last year, and 28.5% of Americans shopping over the weekend were doing so online.
The NRF said 96.5 million Americans plan to shop online on Cyber Monday, up from 85 million in 2008.
Cyber Monday used to be a day for bargain-hunters to take advantage of faster Internet connections at work but the survey found that most shoppers - 91.5% - now do so from home.
According to comScore, $10.57 billion has been spent online during the first 27 days of the November, up 3% from the corresponding period last year.
Online retail giant Amazon was the most visited retail property on Black Friday with 28% more unique visitors than a year ago, followed by Walmart, which saw growth of 22%, it said.
Apple was up 39%, Target was 2% higher and Best Buy sites grew 24%.
