U.S. E-commerce Gains in 2Q 2003

E-commerce scored during the second quarter of 2003, increasing 27.8 percent over 2Q 2002 to $12.477 billion, according to the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce.

E-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2003 remained steady from the first quarter, accounting for 1.5 percent of total sales, while online retail accounted for 1.2 percent of total sales in the second quarter of 2002.

If July’s online shopping traffic is any indication, the third quarter could continue the year’s upward trend. Findings from comScore indicate that online shoppers spent more than $500 million on apparel in July, as parents and students began back-to-school preparations. The firm reports online spending on apparel and accessories was up 43 percent in June and 44 percent in July versus 2002 levels, and more than 34 million Americans visited an apparel site in July – up 12 percent from June.

According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Ebay was the most widely used shopping aggregator, reaching 30.6 percent of the active online population logging on from home and work in July 2003. Amazon reached 26.1 percent of surfers in July 2003, followed by MSN Shopping with 11.5 percent of surfers.

In July 2003, PriceGrabber was the fastest growing in the shopping search category with a year over year growth rate of 127 percent. NexTag experienced a significant increase in traffic growing 116 percent.