Record eCommerce Sales Push Delivery Volumes

On Cyber Monday (November 29th), U.S. shoppers spent $1.028bn online – the highest ever recorded sales level for a single day – according to market research firm comScore Inc. The overall spend was up 16% from last year with average spending per transaction rising 10% to $60.05. For transportation and shipping companies, the good news was that the total number of transactions was also up – by 6% – to 17.1million. comScore also recorded a significant 28% rise in transactions on Thanksgiving Day itself – reflecting the bargains and reductions many online retailers had released on or slightly before the holiday weekend.

Experian Hitwise also reportedan increase in sales on the 500 retail web sites it monitors: a 13% increase on Black Friday and a 16% increase on Cyber Monday. Sites with significant increases in transactions included bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Macys and JC Penney as well as online-only retailers such as Amazon.com.

E-commerce still only accounts for about 7% of the overall retail market but online spending is growing at a faster pace than bricks and mortar stores where sales gains have been more modest. Market research firm ShopperTrak estimated that although shopper visits were up, sales over the Black Friday Weekend were flat compared to last year.

ComScore expects online retail sales to rise 11 percent for the 2010 holiday season in November and December.

“Cyber Monday was a historic day for e-commerce as we saw daily spending surpass $1 billion for the first time,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news. At the same time, it’s important to note that some of the early strength in consumer spending is almost certainly the result of retailers’ heavier-than-normal promotional and discounting activity at this early point in the season. So, while we anticipate that there will be more billion-dollar spending days ahead as we get deeper into the season, only time will tell if overall consumer online spending remains at the elevated levels we’ve seen thus far.”

UPS says it expects the volume of packages it handles to increase 7.5 percent during the next few weeks and FedEx is projecting an 11 percent increase in holiday shipping volume.