here. / " title="ONLINE SHOPPING during last weekend's blizzard totaled $4.8 billion, the most ever spent in one week online. For a larger version of this graphic, go here. /"/>PROVIDENCE – Retailers up and down the East Coast watched with horror last weekend as a blizzard kept customers out of their stores on the final Saturday and Sunday of the Christmas shopping season.
But while the bad weather spelled trouble for brick-and-mortar merchants, it appears to have been a boon for e-retailers, as snowbound shoppers bought presents online.
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The total amount of online sales on Saturday, Dec. 19, and Sunday, Dec. 20, rose 13 percent compared with last year, compared with an overall increase of 4 percent for the holiday season to date, according to Web-research firm ComScore Inc.
“The major snowstorms hitting the eastern seaboard over the weekend appear to have given holiday e-commerce an additional boost, resulting in the heaviest online spending week on record at $4.8 billion,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.
Similarly, Coremetrics, a market research firm, said Internet retail sales rose 24 percent on Friday and Saturday and 20 percent on Sunday compared with the same weekend in 2008. Although the company did not break down sales figures by region, it said the blizzard may have been one reason for the sales spike.
“Last-minute shoppers on the East Coast who had intended to hit the malls this weekend really had no option but to shop online,” said John Squire, Coremetrics’ chief strategy officer. The National Weather Service said 13.4 inches of snow fell in Providence on Saturday and Sunday.
By contrast, the snowstorm may have meant $2 billion in lost sales for brick-and-mortar stores, which usually make $15 billion on the last weekend, according to Planalytics Inc., a weather research firm. The firm said mall traffic was down 10 percent on Saturday.
Michael Niemira, chief economist of the International Council of Shopping Centers, said sales on Saturday were a “super disappointment,” Bloomberg News reported.
