Digital Daily » online sales

Good Luck, Carol. You'll Need It

John Paczkowski — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:22:48 +0000

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Consumer Technology Holiday Sales Predictably Lousy

John Paczkowski — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:25:49 +0000

Though there was no reason to expect otherwise, sales of consumer electronics in the states fell dramatically during the holiday season. While online sales rose 7.1 percent to $1.7 billion for the five weeks that ended Dec. 27, sales at brick-and-mortar stores fell 8.1 percent to $7.5 billion, according to research firm NPD Group. End result: an overall decline of 5.7 percent for what NPD analyst Stephen Baker says was “by far” the worst holiday season the firm has seen.

Seems the econalypse and the absence of a “must-have product” really played havoc with spending during our annual consumer binge. Said Baker, “Not only was there not a really hot product, not only did the economy tell people that they shouldn’t buy stuff, but the stuff I have [is] more than good enough in most cases.”

Amazon to Investors: We Wish You a Lousy Xmas

John Paczkowski — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:00:21 +0000

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Amazon. Earth's Biggest Bookstore Disappointment

John Paczkowski — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:34:24 +0000

Are online sales largely recession-resistant? Not according to Amazon’s latest earnings. Though its third-quarter profit rose 48 percent from the same period last year on revenues of $4.26 billion, the Internet retailer lowered its full-year sales outlook.

By $1 billion.

Earlier this year, Amazon (AMZN) projected $7.2 billion revenue for its fourth quarter, which includes the all important holiday shopping season. Today, it said it expects revenue for that quarter to fall somewhere between $6 billion and $7 billion.

Uh-oh.

“The holidays are not going to be pretty,” said Soleil Securities analyst Scott Tilghman. “Amazon.com isn’t immune to the economic downturn.”