Notes from comScore: State of the U.S. Online Retail Economy in Q1 2009
Listening to comScore’s State of the U.S. Online Retail Economy in Q1 2009 webinar and twittering at the same time. Here are some of the bullet points / soundbites:
- “A dollar saved is a dollar not spent” — Online spend of “older” folks and higher earning bracket are not growing as much. Probably trying to save more and reduce discretionary spending to offset losses in the stock market.
- eCommerce categories growth year-over-year. Winners: Sports & Fitness, Books & Magazines, Video Games, Computer Software. Losers: Office Supplies, Music/Movies/Videos.
- Survey says: 74% of consumers somewhat or very likely to pre-shop online before purchasing online or offline.
- Importance of Online Features: Most=product details, purchasing incentives. Least=online chat.
- Mobile is becoming important. 9.2M people visited an online retail site via mobile in March 09. Mobile users with smart phones are also in higher income brackets.
- Online Display Ads. Dell 1.3B ad views vs. HP 166M.
- Online site categories that have high influence on purchasing behavior: Classified, Comparison Shopping, Social Media (including an obligatory showing of the Twiter user growth hockey stick).
- Coupon redemption rate has gone up, as in any recessionary times. Consumers redeeming coupons are not necessarily in lower income brackets.
