ToysRus is the big online winner in US - but Best Buy gets a black eye
Figures from comScore the US online digital tracking service for the month of November show a huge lurch to online shopping across the US as the Christmas rush got under way. MIssing from the picture is what effect this had on brick-and-mortar retailers.
Toysrus: the big winner
Toy sites grew 34 percent over October to 28.9 million visitors. Toysrus Sites were first with 15.6 million visitors, 71-percent more than October.
The LEGO Group came in second with 4.4 million visitors (up 12 percent), followed by Disney Shopping with 2.2 million (up 37 percent).
Consumer Electronics sites jumped 28 percent over October to 59.1 million visitors. BestBuy ranked #1 iwith 35.3 million visitors (up 78 percent), followed by eBay Electronics U.S. with 7.7 million (up 19 percent).
However, for Best Buy the gloss was taken off that news by the revelation that the world's largest consumer-electronics retailer had to cancel some customers' online orders after it ran out of popular merchandise
Lisa Hawks, a spokeswoman for Best Buy , said "overwhelming demand of hot product offerings" on BestBuy.com led to the cancellations. She declined to identify to AdAge the items or disclose the number of orders that won't be filled. It wasn't clear how long the company was aware of these problems before notifying customers.
The Wall Street Journal commented bluntly," The shortages are a black eye for Best Buy."
One in 4 Visitors to Retail Sites also visited Coupon Sites, reported comScore
The category grew 12 percent to 49 million visitors. Category leader Groupon attracted 11.8 million visitors (up 2 percent).
The full version of the press release is available at: http://www2.comscore.com/e/1552/b-Properties-for-November-2011/RLLYL/447792179