Report: "Black Friday" Online Shopping Sees Slower Growth This Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 27, 2006 - 1:37pm.

New York - The number of Internet users shopping from their home computers on "Black Friday" increased 12% this year compared with 2005, according to new figures released by Nielsen/NetRatings. This was lower than the 29% increase seen between 2004 and 2005, and closer to the 11% growth between 2003 and 2004.

The day after Thanksgiving -- traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year -- saw a unique audience of 19.2 million across more than 120 representative online retailers on Friday, up from 17.2 million a year ago. The largest jumps came in the consumer electronics space.

"This year, shoppers went online to check out the latest in consumer electronics, including flat screen TVs and new game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and the highly coveted Sony PlayStation 3," said Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst for Nielsen/NetRatings.

eBay led the top online shopping destinations on Black Friday with 7.5 million unique visitors, followed by Amazon and Wal-Mart. Online shopping data for "Cyber Monday," when many Americans returned from holiday travel and went back to work today, will be released later this week.

Related Links:
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/press.jsp?section=ne_press_releasese&nav=1
http://tinyurl.com/ye6sad (Reuters)