holidays

Retail e-commerce falls 3 percent in fourth quarter

Retail e-commerce posted its first quarterly decline in at least eight years, during the normally robust fourth-quarter holiday shopping season, according to a report released Thursday by ComScore.

During the fourth quarter, retail e-commerce sales fell by 3 percent to $38 billion, compared with a year ago.

"I thought things would be flat, so this was a little worse than I thought," said Gian Fulgoni, ComScore chairman.

He attributed part of the decline to fewer post-Thanksgiving shopping days in November last year, compared with the same time in the previous year when there was nearly one full additional … Read more

Amazon's revenue jumps, beats Street forecast

Amazon.com beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter revenue and earnings expectations, as the e-commerce giant posted strong holiday sales amid a weak economy.

Amazon's revenues jumped 18 percent to $6.7 billion for the quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. Wall Street had been expecting Amazon to generate sales of $6.4 billion for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company reported a 9 percent increase in net income to $225 million for the quarter, or 52 cents a share. Wall Street was expecting a net profit of 50 cents a share, excluding stock options … Read more

eBay reports revenue and earnings decline

Facing a tight economic climate and strong dollar overseas, eBay reported on Wednesday a 7 percent revenue drop in the fourth quarter and weaker net profits.

Shares of eBay, in after-hours trading, fell 6.25 percent to $12.45. The stock rose nearly 6 percent to close at $13.28 a share during regular trading.

The online auction giant reported revenue of $2.07 billion, down 7 percent from a year ago. That figure fell short of analysts' expectations of $2.12 billion in revenue.

eBay's net income, meanwhile, fell nearly 31 percent to $367 million in the fourth … Read more

Circuit City in sale talks; Best Buy shrinks targets

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Circuit City said Friday that it is in talks with "two highly motivated and interested parties" about selling the company as a going concern. Meanwhile, Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the U.S., reckons it continues to take market share.

Circuit City asked the bankruptcy court to approve procedures that officially would sell Circuit City in total, by business units, or by assets such as inventory.

In a statement, Circuit City said:

These interested parties are considering providing additional financing to allow the company to sustain … Read more

Online holiday sales drop 3 percent

Online holiday spending declined 3 percent compared with last year's online shopping season, the first negative growth rate in the past eight years, according to a ComScore report released Tuesday.

Between November 1 and December 23, U.S. online merchants recorded $25.5 billion in sales, down from $26.3 billion during the same period last year, ComScore reported. Gian Fulgoni, the research firm's chairman, blamed economic pessimism for the poor results:

The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough … Read more

The 404 Yuletide Mini-sode Three: Where one or two movies came out this year

Installment Three of 404 Holiday Mini-sodes invites you to take a look at this year in cinema. Join us as Wilson puts on his critic hat and picks his top three movies of the year. Jeff joins the fun and chooses his favorite films but manages to find plenty of time to hate many, many others.

As for the Mantern, he adds one crucial but often overlooked observation to the discussion. Listen at the end of the podcast for his suggestion for most poignant film of the year...

Yuletide Mini-sode Three Download today's podcast … Read more

Holiday report: E-commerce dips, electronics plummet

Over the next few days, a picture of holiday sales will begin to materialize.

One of the first reports to surface doesn't sound incredibly painful until specific categories--like electronics--are broken out. And then the hurt becomes obvious.

MasterCard Advisors, a unit of the credit card giant, released on Friday its SpendingPulse analysis of national retail and service sales for the holiday-shopping season.

Overall retail sales year over year (excluding gasoline, which doesn't make a great holiday gift anyway) were down 2 percent in November and down 4 percent from December 1 to 24.

Overall, e-commerce fared relatively well … Read more

Online spending doubles for weekend before Christmas

Here's a little statistical cheer for online retailers bracing themselves for what many have been predicting will be a dismal holiday sales season.

The latest online retail spending report released Tuesday by ComScore shows that consumers last weekend spent almost double what they spent on the corresponding weekend before Christmas last year. U.S. consumers online spent $677 million last weekend, December 20 and 21, compared to $341 million the weekend before Christmas in 2007, which was December 22 and 23.

It should be noted, however, that there are five fewer days this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, making … Read more

Trainwreck Riders, 'Christmas Time Blues': Free MP3 of the Day

The Riders hail from San Francisco, but their tunes seem torn between the small pleasures of city living and the hardy lifestyle of the nearby hills. Using campfire harmonicas and winsome guitars, they sing about the Laundromat yet sound like they recorded on Neil Young's ranch.

Download free MP3 now!