Cyber Monday Online Retail Spending Hits Record $733 Million, Up 21 Percent Versus Last Year

Amazon and Wal-Mart Top Online Retailers in Cyber Monday Visitors

RESTON, VA, November 27, 2007 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an update of holiday season e-commerce spending covering the first 26 days (November 1 – 26) of the November – December 2007 holiday season, including spending totals for Cyber Monday (November 26). More than $10.7 billion has been spent online during the season-to-date, marking a 17-percent gain versus the corresponding days last year. Cyber Monday saw $733 million in online spending, representing a 21-percent increase versus last year and an 84-percent jump from the average daily online spending totals during the preceding four weeks.

2007 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2006
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore, Inc.

Billions ($)

Holiday Season to Date

2006

2007

Pct Change

November 1 – 26

$9.14

$10.74

17%

Thanksgiving Day (November 22)

$0.21

$0.27

29%

“Black Friday” (November 23)

$0.43

$0.53

22%

“Cyber Monday” (November 26)

$0.61

$0.73

21%

* Corresponding Shopping Days, Not Calendar Days

“Cyber Monday is an important day during the online holiday shopping season, representing the first significant spike in online holiday spending activity,” said Comscore Chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Cyber Monday once again set a record with $733 million in sales, the first time a single day of online retail spending has broken the $700 million threshold. While that makes it the heaviest online shopping day on record, we expect that a number of individual shopping days during the coming weeks will surpass the Cyber Monday total, with some days potentially surpassing $800 million.”

Some other notable findings for Cyber Monday 2007 include:

  • The number of online buyers was up 38 percent compared to Cyber Monday 2006, while the average dollars spent per buyer was down 12 percent. The decline in dollars per buyer may be due to two factors -- deeper and broader price discounts offered by online merchants this year and the fact that “new Cyber Monday buyers” tended to spend less online than returning buyers.
  • 6 percent of the Internet users on Cyber Monday made an online purchase.
  • 44 percent of Internet users on Cyber Monday shopped online (i.e. visited an online retail site or used a comparison shopping engine)
  • 60 percent of dollars spent online on Cyber Monday came from work computers, with the balance coming from home and university computers.

Cyber Monday Sees Rise in Traffic at Top Retail Sites

On Cyber Monday, most of the top online retail sites experienced significant gains in the number of visitors. Amazon Sites saw the most visitors on Cyber Monday 2007, up 26 percent gain versus the same day last year and up 50 percent compared to the average daily visitors during the four weeks leading up to Cyber Monday. Six out of the top ten retail sites saw their visitors more than double compared to the daily average over the four weeks preceding Cyber Monday. Apple’s modest gains are the result of consistently high traffic levels during the weeks preceding Cyber Monday.

Top 10 Retail Sites Ranked By Visitors on Cyber Monday (November 26, 2007)
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore, Inc.

Retail Site

Percent Change

vs. Average Daily Visitors during 4 Weeks Preceding Cyber Monday

Amazon Sites

50%

Wal-Mart

103%

Target Corporation

86%

Dell

106%

Best Buy Sites

110%

Yahoo! Shopping

85%

Apple Inc.

5%

Overstock.com

139%

Circuit City Stores, Inc.

136%

MSN Shopping

261

CyberMonday.com, a site for online retailers to advertise their holiday season promotions, also experienced notable gains on Cyber Monday, attracting 56 percent more visitors than Cyber Monday a year ago and representing a 25-fold increase versus the average daily visitors during the preceding four weeks.

Traffic to CyberMonday.com on Cyber Monday (November 26, 2007)
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore, Inc.

Retail Site

Percent Change

vs. Cyber Monday 2006

vs. Average Daily Visitors during Previous 4 Weeks

CyberMonday.com

56%

2481%

Weekly Online Holiday Retail Sales

Please contact press@comscore.com to receive the data behind the above for use in graphical representation.

Comscore 2007 Retail E-Commerce Forecast

Online Non-Travel (Retail) Holiday Consumer Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore, Inc.

Billions ($)

2006

2007

Pct Change

January – October

$77.5

$93.6

21%

Holiday Season (Nov-Dec)

$24.6

$29.5*

20%*

*Comscore forecast

About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given Comscore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. Comscore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, Comscore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. Comscore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. Comscore services are used by more than 800 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com