Google Driving Big Online Sales in 08
comScore has released its online shopping & sales statistics for November 2008, and it seems that despite previous concerns, more and more consumers are turning to the web for their holiday bargains.
With most of the world now officially in recession, there were doubts about with ecommerce sites would be hit hard.

It seems, that despite consumer’s continuing economic worries, they’ve now become much more value conscious.

“The current economic situation has caused retailers to slash prices and offer highly attractive offers, such as free shipping, to appeal to cost-conscious Americans this holiday season,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.

The annual Black Friday and Cyber Monday price slashing bonanza deals still managed to attract the crows, with such sales seeing a growth of 20%.

Google continues to dominate in the online space, with the network of Google properties attracting over 144 million unique visitors in November. Despite Yahoo’s recent share price implosion, its traffic levels remain healthy with almost 144 million visitors. The smallest kid on the block, Microsoft, still managed a respectable 123 million visitors.

It will be interesting to see just how much Christmas sales are impacted by the current recession, and whether the trend will continue for value orientated consumers to shift their more limited budgets online, rather than turning to traditional brick and mortar retailers.

comScore stats for November, 2008:
(click for full size)