The winter storm that ravaged East Coast bricks-and-mortar retailers did not deter online shoppers. The Associated Press
reported that weather research firm Planalytics said the storm "may
have put at least a $2 billion dent in 'Super Saturday,' which usually
accounts for $15 billion worth of sales nationwide."
Online
retail sales, on the other hand, rose 22.4% for the weekend compared
with 2008, according to Web research company Coremetrics, which tracked
an increase of 24.8% in Saturday sales, the AP wrote.
"This
teaches consumers that maybe those of us that procrastinate, we still
have time to go online very close to Christmas," said John Squire,
Coremetrics' chief strategy officer. The company found "the average
shopper spending and ordering more on Saturday, when the weather's
effects were deepest, than Friday. Even online sales Monday morning
were strong as shoppers raced to make purchases so they could be
delivered by Christmas."
The AP also noted that "retail Web
traffic peaked at 2.9 million visitors per minute Saturday night,
according to the Akamai Retail Net Usage Index. That was up from 1.9
million on the Saturday before Christmas in 2008, though that
day--December 20--was closer to Christmas than this year. The Sunday
peak was 3.5 million visitors per minute, compared with 2.2 million on
the Sunday before Christmas last year."
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Storm-hindered shoppers may still have money to burn, however. Reuters reported that a survey by America's Research Group and UBS Investment Research "found the storm hampered purchases as a whole, with nearly 42% of consumers saying they still have gifts to buy, compared with 21.5% who were still shopping at the same point last year."
The Wall Street Journal called this situation a "holiday cliffhanger" that is "leaving retailers still uncertain about how well the season will end up." Memories of last year's recession-fueled discounting frenzy may also be contributing to the delay, as "more than half of ARG-UBS respondents said they were waiting for discounts of 50% or greater before they would complete their shopping."
Hoping to squeeze every dollar out of Christmas week sales, a "host of retailers are extending their store hours in the Northeast. Toys 'R' Us, for instance, said that more than 300 stores would be open 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. through Wednesday. Target Corp. and Barnes & Noble Inc. also said they were lengthening hours of operation," according to the Journal.
Also, in response
to the storm disruption, Borders Bookstores throughout Washington,
D.C., Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, as well as New York
City, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh planned to remain open until
midnight from Monday, December 21, through Wednesday, December 23.