comScore: Retail eCommerce Sales Flat Year Over Year

If any people with ties to eCommerce operations felt a sense of deja vu during the first quarter of this year, it’s completely excusable.  As it turns out, the year-over-year change in U.S. sales worked out to zero percent, making the situation pretty similar to the first quarter of 2008.

So, is a goose egg good?  Bad?  comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement, "Although online retail spending growth was flat in the first quarter, this does represent a slight improvement over the disappointing fourth quarter."  Things had gone negative by three percent at that point.

 

Fulgoni reasoned, then, "These results would appear to indicate that the economy is finally exhibiting some signs of stability, and with consumer confidence beginning to improve, I’m optimistic that the online channel is poised for a return to positive growth in the second half of 2009."

And positive growth is already taking place in several sectors.  comScore found that there was a 23 percent increase in sales in the Sports & Fitness category, and a 19 rise in the Books & Magazines sector.  Video Games, Consoles & Accessories and Computer Software (excl. PC Games) saw bumps of 12 percent each, too.

It may seem odd to adopt a glass-half-full attitude when dealing with a data point of zero, but the move seems almost appropriate in this case.