Thursday, February 12, 2009

Study: U.S. E-Commerce Drops In Q4

A new report released this morning find that retail e-commerce sales dropped in Q4 by 3 percent, as the dismal economy began to affect the online retail sector. According to comScore, which tracks e-commerce spending, Q4 of 2008 was the first quarter of negative growth since it started tracking spending in 2001. The drop follows double digit gains throughout 2007 and the first half of 2008 in year-to-year ecommerce sales. Among the winners in e-commerce for 2007: video games, consoles, and accessories, which saw increases of 29% year to year in sales; homes, garden, and furniture, with 25%; and sports and fitness also at 25%. On the losing end were computer software, which saw a drop of 18% in spending, and music, movies and videos--with a staggering 23% drop in online sales.