Online shopping grows robustly

Published Jan 6, 2017

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Washington - After getting off to a somewhat slow start

amid the fog of a contentious presidential election, online shopping surged

strongly during the holiday season, with Adobe reporting Thursday that

retailers pulled down some $91.7 billion in digital sales.

That haul represents an 11 percent increase over last

year and surpassed Adobe's earlier projections for the season by $115 million.

The company's report is based on an analysis of 24.6 billion visits to shopping

websites: Adobe's software powers many retail sites.

The strong growth in online spending reflects a long-term

shift in which shoppers are choosing the convenience of swiping, tapping and

clicking over a trip to the mall. Indeed, in-store analytics tracker RetailNext

reported Thursday that mall traffic sank 12.3 percent in November and December,

while sales dropped 9.9 percent.

While consumers for years have been demonstrating a

growing willingness to shop on their phones, this holiday season put into sharp

relief just how integral the small screen has become in the buying experience.

Adobe reports that mobile devices, which include tablets and smartphones,

accounted for 50 percent of visits to retailers' websites during the holidays.

Purchases made on these gadgets added up to $28.43 billion in revenue, a 23

percent increase over last year.

Amazon.com is likely to be a chief beneficiary of this

online shopping boom. (Jeffrey Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns The

Washington Post.)

Slice Intelligence, an e-commerce research firm, reports

that Amazon captured some 38 percent of the dollars spent online between November

1 and December 29. No retailer came close to matching its dominance: Best Buy

grabbed the next-largest piece of the online pie, drawing 3.9 percent of

overall online spending. Target earned 2.7 percent during that period, while

Walmart grabbed 2.6 percent.

A hint

Amazon has offered at least one hint that it saw robust

sales in the season. The company said this week it experienced a 50 percent

increase during the holiday season in items shipped via its "Fulfilment by

Amazon" program, in which Amazon packs and ships products being sold by

third-party sellers in its marketplace.

For several major retailers that rely on brick-and-mortar

stores for the bulk of their sales, the holiday season hasn't shaped up as

merrily. Macy's reported Wednesday that it saw a 2.7 percent dip in comparable

sales, a measure of sales online and at stores open more than a year. The

retailer is poised to close 100 stores and slash 10 000 jobs to help it get on

better footing.

Kohl's reported a 2.1 percent drop in comparable sales,

saying it saw great variance in shopper spending throughout the season.

Shoppers hit up the department store chain in droves on Black Friday and the

final days before Christmas but weren't spending big in early November or early

December. Like its rival, Macy's, the chain said weakness in its accessories

department hurt stronger sales in areas such as home and men's clothing.

Read also:  Your cues to shop online – no queues

Sears, too, had a tough holiday period, recording a

staggering 12 to 13 percent decline in comparable sales. Things didn't look

good at Barnes & Noble, either, with comparable sales down 9.1 percent.

At Victoria's Secret, which generally has been attempting

to veer away from va-va-voom undergarments to the bralettes and sports bras

women are looking for, sales fell 4 percent in December.

Many other major retailers have yet to report how they

fared during the holiday rush. But this early batch of results would seem to be

consistent with expectations heading into the season, which suggested that Amazon

and mid-sized retailers such as Bonobos or Warby Parker would steal market

share from the some of the biggest names at the mall.

WASHINGTON POST

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