Attractive Discounts Bring Deluge of Buyers to Retail Sites on Cyber Monday

Tighter Budgets Resulted in Lower Dollars per Buyer vs. Year Ago

RESTON, Va., Dec. 4 -- comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released additional insights into online consumer activity on Cyber Monday, revealing where the majority of dollars spent originated as well as traffic gains for major retail sites.

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As reported in comScore's December 3 press release, online retail sales on Cyber Monday this year increased by 15 percent over last year's level. This gain was driven by a 22-percent increase in the number of buyers, while the average dollars spent per buyer declined by 5 percent versus year ago. This decline in dollars per buyer can be traced to a drop in the number of buying transactions completed by the average buyer.

  Breakdown of Cyber Monday E-Commerce Spending
  Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
  Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
  2008 vs. 2007
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore, Inc.
                                                  Cyber Monday
                                                                    Percent
                                         2007           2008        Change
  Dollars ($ Millions)                   $733           $846          15%
  Number of Buyers (000)                7,585          9,254          22%
  Dollars per Buyer                    $96.62         $91.43          -5%
  Average Transaction Value            $53.89         $55.76           3%
  Transactions per Buyer                 1.79           1.64          -9%

"Because of the extremely attractive prices offered by a myriad of retailers, it shouldn't be surprising that nearly two million more consumers purchased online this Cyber Monday compared to last. But, because of their reduced spending power it's also evident that those who did buy were unable or unwilling to spend as much per person as we saw last year," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "That said, it's clear that Cyber Monday has become a well publicized event that has fundamentally captured consumers' attention and a meaningful share of their wallets."

Work Computers Accounted for Half of Cyber Monday Spending

The Cyber Monday phenomenon is driven primarily by online spending from work computers as people return to work after the Thanksgiving weekend and begin making their holiday gift purchases out of view of family members and from computers with ultra fast connections. Similar to previous years, work computers accounted for approximately half of total online spending on Cyber Monday. Interestingly, although they represent a relatively small percentage (7 percent) of overall Cyber Monday spending, international consumers spent 44 percent more online at U.S. sites than they did in 2007, a potential consequence of the far faster ramp up in Internet usage that is occurring in many less mature international markets than in the U.S today..

  Breakdown of Cyber Monday E-Commerce Spending by Location
  Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
  Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
  2008 vs. 2007
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore, Inc.
                                         Cyber Monday Spending ($ Millions)
                                                                  Percent of
                                                                     2008
                                         2007           2008       Spending
  All Locations                          $733           $846         100%
  Home                                   $297           $334          39%
  Work                                   $372           $426          50%
  University                              $22            $25           3%
  International                           $42            $60           7%

Retail Sites Draw Massive Visitor Gains on Cyber Monday Relative to Depressed November Levels

More than 57 million Americans visited retail sites on Cyber Monday, representing a 33-percent jump versus the average daily visitors in November 2008, a month that generally saw reduced visitation to retail sites as consumers struggled to assimilate a succession of negative economic events. The most visited retail site on Cyber Monday was eBay, which grew 45 percent over November levels to nearly 13 million visitors, followed by Amazon Sites with 9.2 million visitors (up 56 percent), Wal-Mart with 6.8 million visitors (up 90 percent), and Target Corporation with 4.8 million visitors (up 54 percent).

  Top 20 Most Visited Retailer Sites on Cyber Monday (December 1, 2008)
  December 1, 2008 vs. November 2008 (average)
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore, Inc.
                                        Average Daily Unique Visitors (000)
                                       Month of     Cyber Monday    Percent
                                     November 2008     (Dec. 1)      Change
  Retail Category                        42,927         57,129         33%
  eBay                                    8,930         12,981         45%
  Amazon Sites                            5,894          9,207         56%
  Wal-Mart                                3,569          6,766         90%
  Target Corporation                      3,108          4,801         54%
  Apple Inc.                              2,567          3,683         43%
  Best Buy Sites                          1,257          2,908        131%
  Dell                                    1,550          2,372         53%
  Toysrus Sites                           1,432          2,162         51%
  OVERSTOCK.COM                           1,519          2,053         35%
  Moviefone                               1,315          1,968         50%
  Hewlett Packard                         1,004          1,952         94%
  SEARS.COM                               1,044          1,911         83%
  JCPenney Sites                          1,013          1,873         85%
  Circuit City Stores, Inc.               1,020          1,623         59%
  Macy's Inc.                               823          1,573         91%
  AmericanGreetings Property                821          1,461         78%
  OLDNAVY.COM                               743          1,384         86%
  NETFLIX.COM                               808          1,318         63%
  Kohls Corporation                         771          1,113         44%
  Limitedbrands                             676          1,110         64%


  CyberMonday.com Draws 1 Million Visitors on Cyber Monday

For some time, online shopping resources have been a popular way for consumers to compare prices and obtain the best deal - whether their ultimate purchase was completed online or in a retail store. In a tight economy, the popularity of these resources can increase even more. Cyber Monday saw significant visitor gains at most of the top retail resources, led by Shopzilla.com Sites with nearly 2 million visitors (up 98 percent versus the November base period), followed by Yahoo! Shopping with 1.9 million visitors (up 81 percent) and Google Product Search with 1.1 million (up 59 percent). CyberMonday.com, Shop.org's online round-up of the best Cyber Monday deals, attracted 1 million unique visitors.

  Top 10 Most Visited Online Retail Resource Sites on Cyber Monday
   (December 1, 2008)
  December 1, 2008 vs. November 2008 (average)
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore, Inc.
                                       Average Daily Unique Visitors (000)
                                       Month of     Cyber Monday    Percent
                                     November 2008     (Dec. 1)      Change
  Retail Category                        42,927         57,129         33%
  Shopzilla.com Sites                       985          1,953         98%
  Yahoo! Shopping                         1,024          1,856         81%
  Google Product Search                     697          1,110         59%
  MSN Shopping                              672          1,108         65%
  Nextag.com Sites                          367          1,010        176%
  CyberMonday.com                            13          1,004       7578%
  SHOPLOCAL.COM                             585            878         50%
  ValueClick Sites                          531            675         27%
  PRONTO.COM                                288            638        121%
  Yahoo! Stores                             254            571        125%


  About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/boilerplate.