eCommerce

Reston, Va. -- Several retail subcategories were among the top-gaining in November as Thanksgiving kicked off the holiday shopping season. According to comScore Media Metrix analysis of U.S., desktop activity in November 2013, the retail categories of toys, consumer electronics, jewelry/luxury goods/accessories, department stores, mall, and fragrances/cosmetics all were among the top 10 gaining desktop site categories in November.

Reston, Va. -- Holiday season U.S. retail e-commerce spending from desktop computers for the first 52 days of the November-December 2013 holiday season totaled $42.8 billion, an increase of 10% from the same period one year ago. However, new comScore data shows that the final online shopping week saw considerably softer sales than anticipated, including zero billion dollar spending days.

Atlanta – A surge in last-minute online holiday shopping reportedly caused retailers including Amazon, Kohl’s and Wal-Mart to miss some deliveries scheduled to arrive before Christmas (Dec. 25). According to the Wall Street Journal, UPS had more than the anticipated 7.75 million packages enter its air network on Monday, Dec. 23.

Purchase, N.Y. – U.S. retail sales reportedly rose 3.5% between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24, 2013 compared to the same period in the prior year. According to data from MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, sales of holiday-related categories, such as clothing, electronics and luxury goods, rose 2.3%, after rising 0.7% in 2012.

Razor USA said it set holiday sales records this year due to the surging popularity of a $399 ride-on product called the Crazy Cart that YouTube helped make a hit.
 

New York – Eight of the 25 largest retailers (32%, or roughly one-in-three) failed to deliver at least one package ordered on the cutoff date to arrive before Christmas via standard shipping in a study performed by StellaService. The study involved placing three orders, one each in the East, West and Midwest regions, from each retailer.

Of 75 total orders, 12% missed the delivery estimate. All but one of these orders were shipped using UPS, which is the preferred carrier for most of the top 25 retailers. Some retailer-specific results include:

Washington, D.C. -- Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) reportedly may seek federal hearings on the recent data breach at Target. According to the Associated Press, Menendez said in a press conference held outside a Jersey City, N.J. Target store that he has also requested the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether it can levy fines against Target and whether laws protecting sensitive consumer data need to be strengthened.

San Diego – Mobile messaging provider Bulletin has released DealSiftr, a mobile dealfinder app for iOS devices. With DealSiftr, users fill out a personal profile to tell the app exactly what they're looking for, and then DealSiftr will serve up the most relevant daily deals straight to the user's mobile device.