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e-Commerce Hits New Highs
As the general economy slowly recuperates, e-commerce retailing is healthier than ever, according to government estimates.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the estimated first-quarter $53.2 billion in e-spending over the fourth quarter of 2011 represents the most spending over the Internet and other electronic channels since the Bureau began keeping track in 1999.
That estimated e-commerce spending also was the largest percentage of e-commerce-to-total retailing: 4.9% of all estimated first quarter retail spending of about $1.1 trillion. The first quarter adjusted estimate was 3.1% more spending than for the fourth quarter of 2011.
The estimates are adjusted for seasonal variations, but not for price changes, the Bureau notes.
The creaking recovery of the economy since the Great Recession began in 2008 was evident in the year-to-year same-quarter increase for all estimated retailing ' 6.5%. That total was the lowest total retailing estimate since the third quarter of 2010, when spending was up 4.6% from the third quarter of 2009.
And although the percentage of increase in total of e-commerce estimated spending for the first quarter this year was down from the same quarter last year, the 2012 first-quarter estimate was a 15.4% increase from the first quarter of 2011, when e-commerce spending came in at just under $46.1 billion ' a figure the Census Bureau revised last year.
But even though the economy is recovering slowly, it is getting better, analysts say, and e-commerce is a strong aid in that recovery.
“The first quarter of this year was especially strong for retail e-commerce as we returned to year-over-year growth rates in the high teens, numbers we haven't seen since 2007,” Gian Fulgoni, chairman of e-commerce-tracking firm comScore, says in a statement on the company's website. “While the economic recovery continues to be painfully slow, the channel shift to e-commerce appears to be accelerating.”
That's good for e-companies and the attorneys who represent them as those companies expand options and adapt to consumer demands as Internet users surf for bargains amidst a falling gross domestic product and an overall weak job market. The accelerating shift to e-commerce, as Fulgoni put it, also creates a competitive challenge ' again ' for brick-and mortar companies: to monitor and measure the impact that e-commerce, which Fulgoni says has reached “critical mass in several product categories,” and to adjust.
comScore also reported these findings for e-commerce for the first quarter of 2012:
- Digital content and subscriptions, computer software, consumer electronics, jewelry and watches, and event tickets led the online sales categories during the first quarter. comScore notes that a climb of at least 17% was seen in each product category from the first quarter of 2011.
- Free shipping, a feature that has driven online shoppers to e-tailers' websites in droves in recent years, covered 48.8% of e-commerce transactions ' the highest percentage of free shipping for online purchases outside a holiday season. (The only other higher-percentage free-shipping purchasing periods were the fourth quarter of 2010 and 2011, at 49.3% and 51.8%, respectively.)
- Thirty-eight percent of people who own tablets made purchases with their tablets during March, with clothing the most-bought merchandise.
Not adjusted for seasonal variations and other variables, the Census Bureau estimates U.S. total retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter at $50.3 billion, a decrease of 18.6% ('1.1%) from the fourth quarter of 2011. The first quarter 2012 e-commerce estimate increased 15.4% ('1.2%) from the first quarter of 2011, the Bureau notes, while total retail sales increased 8% ('0.7%) in the same period. e-Commerce sales in the first quarter accounted for 4.9% of all estimated retail sales ' the same as for the adjusted first-quarter spending figures.
The Census Bureau does not count ticket sales or travel in its estimates of e-commerce retailing. The Bureau defines e-commerce sales as those of “goods and services for which an order is placed by the buyer or price and terms of sale are negotiated over an Internet, extranet, electronic data interchange (EDI) network, e-mail or other online system.” Payment need not be made online.
Michael Lear-Olimpi is Chief Editor of this newsletter. He can be reached at [email protected].
As the general economy slowly recuperates, e-commerce retailing is healthier than ever, according to government estimates.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the estimated first-quarter $53.2 billion in e-spending over the fourth quarter of 2011 represents the most spending over the Internet and other electronic channels since the Bureau began keeping track in 1999.
That estimated e-commerce spending also was the largest percentage of e-commerce-to-total retailing: 4.9% of all estimated first quarter retail spending of about $1.1 trillion. The first quarter adjusted estimate was 3.1% more spending than for the fourth quarter of 2011.
The estimates are adjusted for seasonal variations, but not for price changes, the Bureau notes.
The creaking recovery of the economy since the Great Recession began in 2008 was evident in the year-to-year same-quarter increase for all estimated retailing ' 6.5%. That total was the lowest total retailing estimate since the third quarter of 2010, when spending was up 4.6% from the third quarter of 2009.
And although the percentage of increase in total of e-commerce estimated spending for the first quarter this year was down from the same quarter last year, the 2012 first-quarter estimate was a 15.4% increase from the first quarter of 2011, when e-commerce spending came in at just under $46.1 billion ' a figure the Census Bureau revised last year.
But even though the economy is recovering slowly, it is getting better, analysts say, and e-commerce is a strong aid in that recovery.
“The first quarter of this year was especially strong for retail e-commerce as we returned to year-over-year growth rates in the high teens, numbers we haven't seen since 2007,” Gian Fulgoni, chairman of e-commerce-tracking firm comScore, says in a statement on the company's website. “While the economic recovery continues to be painfully slow, the channel shift to e-commerce appears to be accelerating.”
That's good for e-companies and the attorneys who represent them as those companies expand options and adapt to consumer demands as Internet users surf for bargains amidst a falling gross domestic product and an overall weak job market. The accelerating shift to e-commerce, as Fulgoni put it, also creates a competitive challenge ' again ' for brick-and mortar companies: to monitor and measure the impact that e-commerce, which Fulgoni says has reached “critical mass in several product categories,” and to adjust.
comScore also reported these findings for e-commerce for the first quarter of 2012:
- Digital content and subscriptions, computer software, consumer electronics, jewelry and watches, and event tickets led the online sales categories during the first quarter. comScore notes that a climb of at least 17% was seen in each product category from the first quarter of 2011.
- Free shipping, a feature that has driven online shoppers to e-tailers' websites in droves in recent years, covered 48.8% of e-commerce transactions ' the highest percentage of free shipping for online purchases outside a holiday season. (The only other higher-percentage free-shipping purchasing periods were the fourth quarter of 2010 and 2011, at 49.3% and 51.8%, respectively.)
- Thirty-eight percent of people who own tablets made purchases with their tablets during March, with clothing the most-bought merchandise.
Not adjusted for seasonal variations and other variables, the Census Bureau estimates U.S. total retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter at $50.3 billion, a decrease of 18.6% ('1.1%) from the fourth quarter of 2011. The first quarter 2012 e-commerce estimate increased 15.4% ('1.2%) from the first quarter of 2011, the Bureau notes, while total retail sales increased 8% ('0.7%) in the same period. e-Commerce sales in the first quarter accounted for 4.9% of all estimated retail sales ' the same as for the adjusted first-quarter spending figures.
The Census Bureau does not count ticket sales or travel in its estimates of e-commerce retailing. The Bureau defines e-commerce sales as those of “goods and services for which an order is placed by the buyer or price and terms of sale are negotiated over an Internet, extranet, electronic data interchange (EDI) network, e-mail or other online system.” Payment need not be made online.
Michael Lear-Olimpi is Chief Editor of this newsletter. He can be reached at [email protected].
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