According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, or ICSC, ecommerce sales in January of 2011 increased 12% from the previous year. January, typically a month of lagging sales after the Christmas shopping rush, was instead a profitable month for emerchants.
Ecommerce Junkie reports that this 12% increase is also part of a three month trend in double –digit ecommerce sales growth.
“A combination of rising consumer demand and strong pricing continued to drive retail sales in January,” Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for Spending Pulse, MasterCard Advisor’s sales tracking partner, told Ecommerce Junkie.
Among online consumers, the largest spending increases were on apparel and electronic items, but almost every type of item, with the exception of jewelry, experienced a purchase increase. This jewelry downtrend is typical, since jewelry purchases often decrease in January after the holiday season, when many people purchase jewelry as Christmas gifts. Online purchases of apparel items in every sub-category except for women’s apparel increased 12% in the month of January. Electronics purchases increased approximately 6%.
Some analysts believe that unusually heavy storms and bad weather conditions, particularly in the Eastern U.S, were responsible for the increase in online purchases in the month of January. Others point to the increase in mobile ecommerce, which is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing tech and ecommerce trends of 2011.