An especially heavy volume of retailer emails on “Cyber Monday,” November 30, 2009, drove a 3% week-over-week increase in overall retailer email activity last week. According to Chad White, research director at Responsys and author of the Retail Email Blog, top online retailers sent each of their customers an average of 3.7 emails during the week of December 4, 2009.
In addition to marking a 3% increase from the average of 3.5 emails top online retailers sent the week of November 27, 2009, it also marked a 44% increase from 2.4 the week of November 6, 2009. On a year-over-year basis using a four-week moving average, retailers sent 12% more emails than the approximately 3.1 they sent during the equivalent four-week period in November-December 2008.
Cyber Monday Sets New Single Day Email Record for 2009
On Cyber Monday, 71% of major online retailers sent at least one promotional email. This beat the previous 2009 single day promotional email record-setter, November 27, 2009. This date, the first Friday after Thanksgiving, is better known as “Black Friday” since traditionally it is the day of the year retailers start earning a profit (or entering the black). Sixty-nine percent of major online retailers sent at least one promotional email on Black Friday this year, and the Retail Email Blog previously predicted that both Cyber Monday and the day after Christmas (December 26) could produce promotional email volumes equal to or exceeding Black Friday’s volume.
There is some significant disagreement among different data sources as to precisely how much better Cyber Monday’s online shopping performance was in 2009 compared to 2008, how many Americans actually shopped online, and where online shopping was performed, but all sources agree notable improvement was made.
comScore Reports Record-tying Cyber Monday Sales Total
comScore reported that e-commerce sales on Cyber Monday, November 30, 2009, totaled $887 million. This represents a 5% increase from $834 million in 2008 Cyber Monday online spending on Monday, November 24, 2008. According to comScore, $887 million matches the highest single-day e-commerce spending total previously recorded, on Tuesday, December 9, 2008.
In addition, comScore reported a total of 8.7 million online buyers for Cyber Monday this year, up 6% from 8.2 million this year. However, dollars spent per buyer dropped 1%, from $103.72 to $102.19.
In general, comScore data shows that online holiday sales have been strong this year compared to last year. During the entire month of November, online sales grew 3%, from $11.87 billion to $12.26 billion. Thanksgiving Day online sales (November 26) rose 10%, from $288 million to $318 million, while Black Friday online sales (November 27) rose 11%, from $534 million to $595 million. For the weekend of November 28-29, online sales climbed 5%, from $769 million to $805 million, compared to the equivalent weekend after Thanksgiving in 2008.
Coremetrics Shows Increase in Average Dollar Amount
According to the Coremetrics Benchmark Cyber Monday 2009 report [pdf], e-commerce sales were 13.7% higher on Cyber Monday this year than they were last year. Coremetrics did not report specific dollar totals. In a significant departure from comScore’s findings, Coremetrics reported the average dollar amount spent by consumers per online order rose 38.2%, from $130.24 to $180.03.
NRF Says Customer Traffic also Rises, Shifts
According to a survey performed by BIGResearch for the Shop.org digital retail division of the National Retail Federation (NRF), 96.5 million Americans planned to shop on Cyber Monday this year, up 13.5% from 85 million in 2008. This number differs significantly from the 8.7 million reported by comScore. Shop.org research also indicated that 87.1% of online retailers offered a Cyber Monday special promotion, up from 83.7% in 2008 and 72.2% in 2007.
E-commerce Strength May Continue through Holiday Season
Several recent pieces of research suggest e-commerce will be a bright spot for holiday sales in 2009. According to the November 2009 American Express Spending and Saving Tracker, the internet will be a popular resource for holiday shoppers this year. Seventy-nine percent of overall respondents plan to use the internet as a tool for holiday shopping, 45% plan to purchase items online, 28% will use the internet to buy hard-to-find items, 27% will use the internet for product research, and 25% will go online for gift ideas.
The 2009 Holiday Forecast from comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com corroborates these findings. PriceGrabber’s research indicates 70% of consumers plan to save money by performing research and comparison shopping online this year, compared to 38% last year. And according to the Deloitte 24th Annual Holiday Survey, 19% of consumers plan to access the internet via their mobile phones while shopping to find store locations, obtain coupons and sales information, as well as research products and prices. This percentage rose to 39% in the 18 to 29 age group.
