----------------------------------------------------------------- SearchReturn Discussion List "Understanding Internet Search Technology" ----------------------------------------------------------------- Moderator: Published by: Disa Johnson SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- January 03, 2008 SearchReturn Issue #144 ----------------------------------------------------------------- SEND POSTS: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Refer a friend: http://www.searchreturn.com/subscribe.shtml ----------------------------------------------------------------- .....IN THIS DIGEST..... // -- NEW DISCUSSION -- // "Holiday Spend" ~ SearchReturn ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- NEW DISCUSSION -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Holiday Spend Many are reporting that the Holiday spending this last season may have had stagnant growth offline in retail stores. There was even a warm weather period that brought out some extra shoppers that might have otherwise stayed inside, but the weather ultimately turned cold and stagnant growth was partly blamed on the weather coupled with high gasoline prices. More numbers are forthcoming by other agencies and some official data should become available sometime after January 12th. Early numbers released by SpendingPulse (MasterCard Advisors) show that Holiday spending rose just 3.6% between Thanksgiving and December 24th. The data excludes gasoline purchases and includes online purchases. The category breakdown they analyzed includes apparel, electronics and luxury items. It's the online sector that showed vigorous growth this year. As reported by ComScore, online retail sales grew 19% to reach $28 billion over the Holiday shopping period. That's excellent news which has lasting effects on ecommerce. MasterCard reported ecommerce had a strong start with 30% growth, peaked November 26th at 40% and finished the season with 22.4% total growth. That number is similar to ComScore's 19% figure, which is good corroboration of the facts. People are still increasingly becoming comfortable with online shopping, even amid the older idea that submitting a credit card number over the Web is a dangerous prospect. Cyber criminals made plenty of headlines over the course of 2007, and still users made purchases despite the media attention. Credit card databases are safer than ever before, especially as shopping cart solutions and payment gateways, Google among them, house the credit card information separately so you don't have to worry about security. This should serve to minimize stolen card numbers and help credit agencies offer ecommerce services and guarantees against fraud. Happy New Year everyone! It looks like 2008 should be another banner year for ecommerce and search. SEO rules. Stay tuned, SearchReturn ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stay Tuned. Got feedback?: http://www.searchreturn.com/feedback.shtml Archives: http://www.searchreturn.com/digest-archive.shtml Alternate formats: http://www.searchreturn.com/info-formats.shtml Manage Subscriptions: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/manage-subs.shtml Problems unsubscribing? Contact the postmaster: mailto:postmaster@searchreturn.com Information on how to sponsor this publication: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/advertise.shtml Published by SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com Website Membership: http://www.searchreturn.com/register.shtml The contents of the digest do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SearchReturn or Disa Johnson. SearchReturn and Disa Johnson make no warranties, either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the contents of the SearchReturn Digest. Copyright 2008 Disa Johnson. All Rights Reserved. -----------------------------------------------------------------