Online Jewelry Sales Weaken As Season Progresses

A 17 percent decline in online jewelry sales is noted at U.S. jewelry and watch e-commerce sites in the first 19 days of December compared to last year, digital world measurement firm comScore reported Sunday.

For the holiday season to date, November 1 - December 19, retail e-commerce spending totaled $24.03 billion, down 1 percent versus the corresponding days last year.

However, as previously noted, online sales started slow this year. December 1-19 sales totaled $12.85 billion, a one percent growth compared to 2007. These sales exclude auctions and large corporate purchases. This growth, as noted above, is not reflected in jewelry sales that started very slow in the first week of December, picked up and now softened.

The fastest growing product categories during the period from December 1 through December 19 were Sport & Fitness (up 31 percent), Books & Magazines (up 18 percent), and Video Games, Consoles & Accessories (up 17 percent).

The past week has seen several strong online spending days, including Monday, December 15 with $859 million in spending to rank as the second heaviest day of the season, behind Tuesday December 9 when $887 million was spent.