US consumers are buying more than ever before via the internet and online sales for the festiveseason are up by 15%, according to digital business analyst ComScore. The surge is generating
strong parcel growth for UPS and FedEx.Last week was the busiest ever for US online shopping with $6.3 billion in e-commerce sales, 14%higher than the same period last year, the US-based research company said.
US retail e-commerce spending for the first 48 days of the November-December 2011 holiday seasonreached nearly $32 billion, 15% up on the equivalent period in 2010. The week ending 18 December,traditionally the busiest e-retail week, set a new record with $6.3 billion in sales, includingfour individual days surpassing $1 billion in sales.
This included sales of just over $1 billion on ‘Free Shipping Day’ – Friday 16 December – aone-day, online-shopping event designed to extend the online shopping season, when thousands ofmerchants offer free shipping with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, the final shopping weekend before Christmas reached $1.04 billion to rank as thesecond heaviest weekend of online spending on record.
ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said: “With only a few more days until Christmas, thepreponderance of Americans’ late-season holiday shopping will shift to brick-and-mortar retail,although the procrastinators among us will still be able to take advantage of expedited shippingand buy online up to and including the day before Christmas Eve, with the guarantee of having theirgifts delivered in time for the holiday.
“In total, we will see another $5 or $6 billion in e-commerce spending over the remainder ofDecember to finish off what has clearly been an outstanding season for online retailers.”
The ComScore analysis tallies with figures from UPS, which said it expected online shoppers tospend $37.6 billion this holiday season, up 15% from the 2010 total of $31.9 billion.
UPS said it had been preparing for its busiest day of the year tomorrow, when it is expecting todeliver almost 26 million packages worldwide – or almost 300 every second. The companyexpected to deliver almost 25 million packages on several other days during its ‘Peak Week’ thisweek.
Its preparations included more than 400 additional flights per day by UPS Airlines this week,and preparing to process 3 million express shipments in a 24-hour period through its LouisvilleWorldport facility. UPS said procrastinators could ship as late as Friday 23 December and havegifts arrive on Christmas Eve, using its Next Day Air product with Saturday delivery.
FedEx said it had set a new record on Monday 12 December for the busiest day in the company’shistory, handling around 17 million shipments in its global network – almost double its normaldaily volumes. The company said this was driven by shipments via its SmartPost, Ground and HomeDelivery products
FedEx said deliveries of e-commerce sales have been growing at mid-teen rates for the last twoyears and continue to account for a growing share of overall retail sales – 4.6% in the thirdquarter compared with 4.3% last year, and 1% in 2000.
Although still a small percentage of overall retail sales, this offered a significantopportunity for parcel delivery companies, and had contributed to the strong demand for its HomeDelivery and SmartPost services, and consequently to its improved results in the quarter to 30September.
FedEx Corp chairman, president and CEO Fred Smith said: “With the healthy growth in onlineshopping this holiday season, demand is increasing for these residential delivery services.”
In the UK, e-commerce association IMRG recently reported e-retail growth figures were lower thanexpected in November. The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index recorded 11%year-on-year growth in November, just below IMRG and Capgemini’s forecast of 12-14% growth for thefourth quarter.
IMRG said the weaker-than-expected UK November figures partly reflected a very strongperformance last year, when the early snowfall in November 2010 had boosted early online sales. ButIMRG and CapGamini said the dip in November’s online sales growth mirrored wider retail trends.According to the British Retail Consortium, November saw the high street suffer its biggest annualfall in sales since May this year.
