E-Commerce is Up for Travel, Non-Travel Expenses

Maybe the increased cost of gas isn't bad for everyone. In the second quarter of 2007 e-commerce saw significant increases in spending compared to both travel spending online, and purchases for non-travel items as well. Overall, e-commerce was up 19.5% according to a press release from comScore. In the second quarter of this year when compared with the same period of time last year. Prices at brick and mortar stores have been rising over the past year, while sales stagnated. The increase in the cost of fuel was a major factor in these results. For e-commerce retailers the cost of gasoline is not as big a factor with their sales.

Consumers spent $7.5 billion dollars more in the second quarter of 2007 than then did in the second quarter of 2006 on online purchases. Non-travel purchases were responsible for 66% of that increase with an increase in purchases of $5 billion when compared with the second quarter of 2007. Online travel purchases weren't lagging far behind either though as they saw an increase of $2.5 billion in second quarter online sales for 2007 when compared with the same quarter for 2006. Overall, non-travel e-commerce purchase were up 23 percent compared to the same time period last year, and travel e-commerce purchases were up a solid 14 percent.

Nintendo's release of the Wii gaming system along with Playstation's Playstation 3 sales spurred the market with the biggest comparable e-commerce increase in the gaming industry. The gaming industry's 2007 second quarter e-commerce sales were up 159% over the same quarter of 2006. Sport and fitness purchases were up over 50% from the same quarter of last year. The consumer electronics category also saw just over a 50% increase in e-commerce sales in 2007's second quarter when compared with that same time period in 2006.

The three smallest increases out of the industries who saw significant 2007 second quarter increases in e-commerce when compared with second quarter of 2006 were computer software (23%),books and magazines (22%), and apparel and clothing with a 20% increase.