Comscore has released its annual analysis of domestic online sales of the holidays and as predicted, it was a record Holiday Shoppers for ecommerce sellers.
Online sales reached $42.3 billion in November and December – up 14 percent from what the 2011 online sales figures for the same period.
Comscore outlined several significant shopping days in the table below that were significant. Thanksgiving Day was 32% higher than in 2011, Free Shipping Day on December 17th was up 76 percent over 2011 to over $1 billion and Black Friday was up 28% year over year and also over $1 billion.
Bottom Line: Ecommerce is becoming the way that consumers want to shop. According to the National Retail Federation, the estimate for 2012 retail sales at brick and mortar stores was an increase of 4.1%. The volume of retail sales is over 10x more for brick and mortar stores, but it is clear what the trend is. The question each business owner must ask is how this trend will affect their business in the future and what can be done to gain a share of the gains that are being realized on ecommerce platforms.
Eric Van Cleave is a Partner in Zenergy Works, A Santa Rosa, California based ecommerce website development, website design and SEO firm.