U.S. online sales increase 12 percent to $38 billion in Q1 - report

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U.S. online sales increase 12 percent to $38 billion in Q1 - report

2011-05-11 05:47:59 GMT+7 (ICT)

RESTON, VIRGINIA - U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates reached $38.0 billion for the year's first quarter, which is a 12 percent increase compared to a year ago, according to comsScore, Inc.'s latest report released on Tuesday.

The growth rate represents the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. The 12-percent growth in the quarter was due to the increase in number of buyers - up 7 percent - and transactions per buyer - up 9 percent. However, the quarter was also accompanied by a slight decline in dollars per transaction (4 percent decrease).

According to the report, the top-performing online product categories were: video games, consoles and accessories; books and magazines; computers/peripherals/PDAs; consumer electronics; and computer software (excluding PC Games), as each of the aforementioned categories grew at least 13 percent during the year's first quarter, compared to 2010.

The report also showed that the top 25 online retailers accounted for 67.7 percent of dollars spent online, the same percentage as last year, and down from a peak of 70 percent in 2010 as small and mid-sized retailers regain lost market share.

"Domestic retail e-commerce built on the success of a strong 2010 holiday season with another encouraging quarter here in the first three months of the year," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Faced with rapidly rising gas prices and stubbornly high unemployment, consumers continued to take advantage of the Internet's lower prices by shifting their spending from offline retail stores."

Fulgoni noted that in the first quarter, the growth in e-commerce spending was roughly double that observed at offline retail.

"While we would expect online buying to dampen slightly if gas prices continue to eat into discretionary spending, it's clear that e-commerce has become a mainstay in consumer behavior, driven by the attraction of both lower prices and convenience," Fulgoni stated.

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