American online holiday sales fall 3%
First decline in online spending since comScore Inc started tracking online sales in 2001.
Online sales for the holiday period up to December 23 fell 3% from the same period last year. Online spending reached USD 25.5 billion between November 1 and December 23, the company said, noting this was below its expectations for flat sales on the same period a year ago.
Apple Inc and Amazon.com were among the top traffic gainers in an overall bleak period, comScore said.
Apple sites attracted 35 million visitors between December 1 and December 24, up 19% from a year ago, while Amazon sites drew 76.2 million visitors over the same period, 7% more than a year ago. Wal-Mart also saw its website traffic rise by 4 % to a total of 51.5 million visitors.
Online auction site eBay Inc was the most visited retail site with 85.4 million visitors but its traffic declined 4%.
Electronics retailer Circuit City, which filed for bankruptcy, saw traffic fall off by 21% to 15.5 visitors.
A combination of five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the recession made the season particularly tough for retailers, Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, said in a statement.
