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Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Dougherty - North America

Analyst Weblog

« Holiday shopping with social networks | Hot Products for 2009 »

Online holiday shopping season underway

December 02, 2009

Holiday shopping is in full swing now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us… sort of. Overall, visits to the Retail 500 were down on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday as compared to last year. Visits declined by 15% on Thanksgiving and by 9% on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday as compared to the same days in 2008.

DMS Holiday Cal Adjusted Dates Small.png

YoY Retail 500 Small.png

Web-only retailers experienced the smallest decline in visits on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, with a small increase of 3% on Cyber Monday. Visits to the Retail Chain 100 (aka brick and mortar retailers) were essentially flat on Black Friday, aided by shoppers turning to their websites before and after hitting the stores to find sale & out of stock products. The Catalog/Call Center 100 experienced the largest decline in visits, although their traffic peaks tended to take place later during the holiday season last year.

YoY Retailer Type Small.png

Although traffic is down overall so far this year, this is not the case for every online retailer. On Cyber Monday, the share of visits to Amazon increased the most as compared to last year, followed by Wal-Mart and Target.

Cyber Monday Increases Small.png

Are holiday shoppers waiting it out for another round of markdowns this year? The super budget conscious might be trying to drive more bargains again this year.

Posted by Heather Dougherty at 11:33 AM | (0)
In Categories Black Friday | Cyber Monday | Holiday | Retail | Thanksgiving

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Heather Dougherty

Director, Research at Hitwise.

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