ComScore Networks

Online U.S. retail spending reached $44.3 billion in the first quarter of 2012, up 17 percent vs. a year ago, according to comScore’s Q1 2012 Retail survey. It was the 10th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. In other findings, 38 percent of tablet owners have made a purchase on their device within the past month. Apparel was the most popular category for purchase among tablet shoppers.

In a presentation at the American Catalog Mailers Association’s inaugural National Catalog Advocacy & Strategy Forum in Arlington, Va., last month, David Mastervich, manager of sales strategy for the USPS, reeled off a series of statistics from the Internet marketing research company comScore to bolster the U.S. Postal Service’s claim that catalogs are still a relevant and effective marketing tool. * 98 percent of households collect, assess and sort their mail daily; * 77 percent sort their mail immediately; * on average, consumers receive three to four catalogs a week; * on average, people spend about 30 minutes engaged with their catalogs;

During a session at last week’s Internet Retailer Conference in San Jose, Calif., a panel of speakers explained the reasons why the following five attributes are myths of affiliate marketing: * Affiliate shoppers are undesirable. “Affiliate shoppers are wealthier, tend to have children in the home and skew older than the overall Internet shopping average,” said Stuart Frankel, president of Doubleclick Performics, an online advertising agency. He based his information on a recent Performics-sponsored affiliate insight study commissioned by ComScore Networks (see www.performics.com). * You can’t control your brand. “Affiliate marketing at its root has absolutely nothing to do with affiliates,” said

Online non-travel spending in 2005 totaled $82.3 billion, representing a 24 percent increase from the $66.5 billion posted in 2004, according to comScore Networks’”2005 Year End Online Spending Summary.” Following are the percentage sales growths of some of the fastest growing online product categories from 2004 to 2005, according to the report: ¥ Apparel and accessories sales grew 36 percent. ¥ Computer software, excluding PC games, grew 36 percent. ¥ Home and garden products grew 32 percent. ¥ Toys and hobbies grew 32 percent. ¥ Jewelry and watches grew 27 percent. ¥ Furniture grew 24 percent. ¥ Flowers, greetings and gifts grew 23 percent.

Holiday retail and online sales rose 8.7 percent from 2004, according to SpendingPulse, a division of MasterCard International. And research firm comScore Networks reported that non-travel-related online sales totaled $17.5 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 21, making for a 24 percent increase over the corresponding period in 2004. Following are product categories and their percentage sales gains and losses from 2004, according to SpendingPulse: ¥ home furnishings, up 15 percent; ¥ consumer electronics, up 11 percent; ¥ sporting goods, books, music and videos, up 6.4 percent; ¥ apparel, up 5.8 percent; and ¥ jewelry, down 4.6 percent.

More than one-third of online shoppers reported they frequently shop around online before making a purchase in a retail store, according to a study of multichannel shoppers conducted by Fry Inc., the e-tailing group and comScore Networks. Other findings include: ¥ 97% of shoppers expect a seamlessly integrated shopping experience between online and offline channels. ¥ 46% of consumers start their shopping at a search engine. ¥ 39% of shoppers go directly to the retail Web sites in which they are interested. ¥ 36% of online shoppers have purchased a product online and picked it up at a retail location. Source: comScore Networks, www.comscore.com

Not surprisingly, holiday-related content drove most Web activity in December, with seasonal sites accounting for eight of the top 10 gaining properties and nine of the top 10 gaining categories, according to comScore Media Metrix monthly analysis of consumer activity online. Following are a few things comScore noted: * Five of the top 10 gaining categories in December were retail subcategories. * Jewelry, luxury goods and accessories was the fastest growing retail subcategory with a 30 percent increase in traffic from November, and a 15 percent increase from the same time last year. * The department store category continued to show growth with a