Final Numbers Show Robust Increases in Holiday Spending Online

While 2007-08 holiday-season spending overall fell short of expectations, e-commerce sales soared, according to final numbers compiled by Dallas-based processor Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC. Ten online merchants for which Chase Paymentech processes transactions saw their total traffic jump 29% for the season, to 108.4 million transactions. Dollar volume grew at an even faster rate?68%–to hit $5.482 billion. Chase Paymentech's Pulse Index service, which compiles the transaction data, defines the holiday season as a roughly two-month interval running from the first Monday in November to the first Monday in January. By contrast, sales for the crucial shopping season overall grew just 3.6%, according to a recent report from MasterCard Advisors LLC, a unite of MasterCard Worldwide (Digital Transactions News, Dec. 26, 2007). Analysts blame a host of factors for the tepid increase, including high gas prices and bad weather in many parts of the country. Not only did e-commerce activity balloon during the season, but consumers were apparently buying higher-priced merchandise online as the average ticket increased to $51 from $39 the year before. The merchants tracked by Chase Paymentech are among the 30 largest e-commerce sites in the country as ranked by Internet Retailer magazine. Among other results from the final numbers, the single day high online was reached Dec. 18, with $168.9 million in sales, while the four days from Dec. 11 to Dec. 14 produced the highest sustained traffic, with sales of $598.1 million. The busiest day of the week was Wednesday, with average sales of $103.7 million, while the slowest was Sunday, at $61.5 million.