Verizon: January starts strong in online shopping

New York -- Closing out the 2014 holiday shopping season, Internet retail traffic soared to new heights during the first weekend in January, according to Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ Retail Index.



The Index measures average daily traffic and peak volumes, with both variables used an index with a baseline value of 100. The Index was 130 on Friday (Jan. 2), 134 on Saturday (Jan. 3) and 137 points on Sunday (Jan 4).



“With holiday promotions continuing through yesterday (Jan. 4), the season demonstrated that Black Friday is no longer the only factor for driving spikes in online shopping traffic,” said Michele Dupré, VP of retail & hospitality at Verizon Enterprise Solutions.” In addition, gift cards gave consumers a higher sense of discretionary income late in the season.”



Year-over year, online traffic was up three points on Friday, down four points on Saturday and up four points on Sunday, compared to the same period in 2014.