ComScore (SCOR) Says Q4's Online Sales Up on Y-o-Y Basis, First Time Since 2008
The numbers are in, and they're good... finally. The ongoing migration from retail stores to online stores continued in the fourth quarter of 2009, but had still been declining on a year-over-year basis. Things changed in the fourth quarter, however.
Digital data provider comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR) said Q4's online retail sales were up 3% compared to the same quarter of 2008, boosted by a modest improvement in total retail sales (online and in-store)for the quarter. The online sales total for Q4 rang up to $39 billion.
Still, it wasn't enough to undo a decline in total online spending for the full year. In 2009, online shopping slid to $128.8 billion from $130.1 billion, according to the comScore, Inc. report.
That said, the fourth quarter numbers essentially only pull the online shopping industry back to 2007's levels; online spending fell 3% in the last quarter of 2008.
