The economic statistics that the media reports rarely keep pace with changes. We have heard much about this with employment statistics. The media keeps focusing on the smoke-stack biased payroll survey rather than the more accurate household survey that includes entrepreneurial activities in its employment estimates.
How the media reports on retail Christmas sales are also prone to out-dated figures. While brick-and-mortar retail is important, it is no longer the only game in town. Web-based retail sales has finally caught on and it is allowing many small businesses to flourish. According to NFIB online sales this past Christmas season boomed.
“Online retailers got what they wanted for Christmas; totals for the holiday shopping season reached $8.8 billion.
“The holiday shopping season, which is considered to run from Thanksgiving Day through Dec. 27 for 2004, boasted a 24 percent increase in online sales over last year’s numbers, according to VeriSign, a Web development and research company.”
But, online retailers are not only changing how we shop, but when we shop.
“But visits to online retailers sites started long before the holiday shopping season.
“According to Hitwise, a Web consulting firm, shopping and classifieds sites claimed 9.1 percent of total U.S. Internet visits between Nov. 1 and Dec. 25, 2004 — a 25.6 percent increase when compared to the same period in 2003. The peak day for shopping and classifieds Web sites was Thanksgiving Day.”
So the traditional kick-off for traditional retail shopping is the peak for online sales. I hope the media looks at the entire picture for retail shopping in the future. But, knowing how they work, it may be way into the distant future before they catch on….
Previous
Next