E-Commerce Sees Post-Cyber Monday 'Hangover'

6 Dec, 2010 By: Erik Gruenwedel

Year-over-year, double-digit growth rates softened for e-retailers in the days following Cyber Monday (Nov. 29) as consumers caught their breath, according to new data from comScore.

Online retail sales, which include packaged media and consumer electronics, topped $16.8 billion from Dec. 1 to Dec. 3, up 12% from the same period last year. Sales thereafter fell to lower single-digit growth.

“We believe this softening is attributable to retailers’ heavy discounting and promotional activity during the earlier part of the holiday season [through Cyber Monday], which pulled some consumer demand forward, resulting in a mild hangover effect in the days immediately following,” comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement.

He said the e-commerce slowdown would persist another week before late season discounts and buying by procrastinators give the season “a final spending surge.”

ComScore said the nation’s top 25 retailers have seen a 20% growth in e-commerce activity compared to zero growth among small and mid-size retailers.