CRT Capital: Google Getting Black Eye In Fight For Holiday Shoppers

Google Inc GOOGGOOGL is getting a black eye in the fight for online holiday shoppers, an analyst said Wednesday.

CRT Capital's Neil Doshi pointed out that during the so-called Cyber Five shopping days stretching from Thanksgiving through Monday, Google Shopping's same-store sales grew just 6 percent, compared with 126 percent in the year-ago period.

Doshi cited figures from the market research concern Channel Advisor, and didn't speculate on reasons for the eye-popping slowdown.

During the same recent period, same-store sales growth for Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN slowed to 24 percent, from 35 percent last year.

A similar trend got reported for eBay Inc EBAY where growth slowed to 21 percent, from 30 percent in 2013.

Doshi called the initial kick-off days for the holiday season "a mixed for the Big Three."

Trends so far look "neutralish for Amazon, modestly positive for eBay, and "negative for Google," Doshi said.

Citing separate estimates from the market research firm ComScore, Doshi said PC-based sales during the recent five-day period were up 24 percent from a year earlier, to $6.6 billion. That compares with a 22 percent increase in 2013.

Doshi said, however, that ComScore's estimates may understate sales, "given the ongoing consumer shift to mobile."