Spending from low-income households slumps
The combination of a flailing economy and increasing unemployment has pushed retail e-commerce growth to its lowest level since 2001, according to comScore.
October’s 1 percent growth in online retail sales is the sixth monthly decline and is likely to translate into slower business at Internet vendors such as Amazon and eBay.
ComScore said Wednesday that low- and middle-income households appear to be largely responsible for the softening growth. In the three months from August to October, overall online e-commerce grew 4 percent, but fell 3 percent among households making $50,000 or less. Households with incomes between $50,000 and $99,999 showed only a 1 percent growth in spending.
A year ago, e-commerce growth was 19 percent. As of April, it was still 15 percent. But the pace declined to 5 percent in September before dropping to 1 percent in October. ComScore said October represented the lowest monthly growth since the company began tracking the market in 2001.
Jean-Baptiste Su
Mark Boslet
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