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Scattered bright spots amid ‘Black Friday’ online spending
SAN MATEO December 1, 2008 7:12am 
• Early winners include online department stores, gift stores and jewelry stores • ‘it's possible for retailers to be successful even in a tough economy’ Black Friday was glum for a number of online retailers, according to initial figures Monday.
The traditional shopping splurge on the day after Thanksgiving failed to meet the expectations of many, according to the figures compiled by Coremetrics, of San Mateo, which sells “digital marketing optimization solutions.”
The retail sector in general registered drops in ecommerce activities on Black Friday 2008 compared to the same period last year according to the report.
The number of page and product views across the online retail sector in general was down 8.55 and 8.29 percent respectively compared to Black Friday 2007, suggesting that online retailers are doing a poor job of directing people to browse through their selection of products, Coremtrics says.
An 18 percent drop in average session length also demonstrates that retailers are struggling to keep customers on their sites. Retailers are having difficulty in converting visitors to buyers, as evidenced by weakness in shopping cart and order sessions percentages, the report says.
The notable exceptions among online retailers were department stores, gift stores, health and beauty stores and jewelers, all of which registered encouraging increases in the number of consumers who completed online purchases.
"These numbers show that it's possible for retailers to be successful even in a tough economy if they take the time to understand what is motivating their customers," says John Squire, chief strategy officer for Coremetrics.
Findings are based on data from Coremetrics’ benchmarking product that measures online marketing results, including commerce data, against those of the competition. More than 300 U.S. retailers, representing approximately $20 billion in revenues annually, contribute their analytics data to Benchmark. All data is aggregated and anonymized. Abercrombie & Fitch, Alibris, Bloomingdale's, Coldwater Creek, L'OCCITANE, Macy's, PETCO and REI are some of the participating companies.
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