e-tourism Newsletter eMetrics

Issue 2002 1 - Thursday, January 31, 2002

Travel: first leading online category

comScore data show that at its third quarter peak, Travel accounted for over 40% of online sales; however, it finished the fourth quarter with the same 32% share at which it opened the year.

Computer Hardware and Consumer Electronics were the hot products of the holidays; together these categories started the year at 19% of total sales and ended 2001 accounting for 24%.

"The trends we've seen in Travel, Computers and Consumer Electronics are consistent with more recent reports of overall strength in these sectors at retail," said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman and co-founder, "though the trends were clear in comScore's online shopping data several weeks before any retail measures were available."

Online Consumer Sales at U.S. Sites (excluding Auctions)

($ millions)	1Q01	2Q01	3Q01	4Q01	FY01
Total	$ 11,482	$ 12,477	$ 13,300	$ 15,807	$ 53,066
Non-Travel	$ 7,755	$ 7,585	$ 7,565	$ 10,804	$ 33,709
Travel	$ 3,727	$ 4,892	$ 5,735	$ 5,003	$ 19,357

online consumer sales

Share of Total Online Sales by Category

Category	Q1 2001	Q2 2001	Q3 2001	Q4 2001	FY 2001
Travel	32%	39%	43%	32%	36%

travel share of online sales

Source : comScore Networks

eTourism Newsletter Web Site Editor: Luc Carton