New York, NY, Dec. 8--The weekend blizzard that pummeled the Northeast may have put a damper on holiday sales at traditional retailers, but it proved a boon to Web merchants who saw a huge spike in business as snowbound consumers continued to shop and spend online, according to NewsDay.
L.L. Bean set an online sales record Saturday, only to see it broken again Sunday, spokesman Rich Donaldson said. Saturday's tally was 25 percent higher than the record set in 2002, he said, without disclosing specific sales figures.
"It exploded and went through the roof on the weekend, for obvious reasons," Donaldson said, referring to the storm that swept across the East Coast. "Today is really strong again," he said Monday. "We're poised to have the best fall ever." He said online sales are 20 percent higher this holiday season than in 2002.
Moreover, for the first time, L.L. Bean's online sales topped its telephone-placed sales last weekend, Donaldson said. Part of that was because some of its employees who handle phone orders couldn't get to work, so the company directed customers to use the Web, he said.
Web retailer HSN, which operates the Home Shopping Network TV channel, also posted a strong performance. The St. Petersburg, FL-based company saw previous sales records smashed on Saturday when it recorded more than $30 million in revenues, easily surpassing the previous record of $16.9 million rung up in December 2002. Overall, 14 percent of HSN's business comes via computers.
Customers were buying Wolfgang Puck mixers and cookwear, Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners and Gateway computers, and the Web site had an instructional video showing how to use the computer, spokesman Darris Gringeri said.
Visa USA SpendTrak said e-commerce sales rose about 51 percent for the week ending Sunday to nearly $2 billion, even higher than the 46 percent increase recorded the week earlier. It attributed the surge to the inclement weather.
Online sales, while still a small portion of overall retail revenues, are growing annually. In 2003 Web-based sales are expected to comprise 4.5 percent of total sales, up from 3.6 percent in 2002, said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation.
Last year online sales were $75.7 billion, but $22.2 billion of that was for travel. The group projects that Web-based retailing will total $95.6 billion this year.
A recent Shop.org survey found that 50 percent of consumers are using the Web to research products, but then buy them in a store or through a catalog. But 45 percent of consumers research gift purchases in stores and catalogs, then turn to the Web to buy them.
The biggest enticement to shopping online is free shipping, with conditions, the group found, followed by free shipping with no conditions.
In its early days some Web retailers promised merchandise would arrive by Christmas, but didn't deliver on the promises. For the most part, analysts said Monday, the snafus have been fixed and online retailers have a better on-time record.
Shipping deals to be found in cyberspace include free postage at Amazon.com on orders over $25; free shipping on orders of $100 and more at Gap.com through Dec. 15; shipping charges of 97 cents on 200 hot toys at Walmart.com; and $1 freight on every order at Overstock.com. through Dec. 16.
Procrastinators have a friend in L.L. Bean. The Freeport, ME based company will take orders until midnight Dec. 22 with standard shipping and deliver by Christmas Eve. That's because its standard shipping is regular FedEx. Folks can also order until noon on Dec. 23 and pay for expedited service, which the company says will appear the next day.
