06 December 2007

Video games and consoles see strong growth in November

Spending on video games, consoles and accessories rose 145 per cent in November compared to the same period last year, new figures indicate.

According to research produced by comScore, such products continued to be the "hottest online retail category" covering the first 32 days of the so-called holiday season, between November 1st and December 2nd.

Meanwhile, furniture, appliances and equipment recorded the second highest percentage rise in spending, climbing 45 per cent this November compared to last year.

The figures are based on dollars spent in online retail in categories excluding travel.

Also proving increasingly popular with US consumers were sports and fitness products - which saw an increase in sales of 30 per cent - as well as toys, consumer electronics and books and magazines, which all saw rises of 17 per cent.

More generally, e-commerce spending over the period reached over $14 billion, a 17 per cent increase on last year's figures, with the heaviest spending occurring on Cyber Monday (November 26th).

"This most recent week started strong as consumers spent $733 million on Cyber Monday, which was followed by three consecutive days where spending surpassed $700 million," stated comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

However, spending on November 26th may have been affected by technical difficulties experienced by Yahoo!.

The search engine provider, which helps thousands of small internet firms run their sites and manage their transactions online, had problems processing payments and was said to be unreliable all day.

Games consoles are also enjoying a buoyant period in the UK, as a survey of British online shoppers revealed that the Nintendo Wii was the most searched-for product in the country in November, Reuters reports.

Nintendo's handheld console, the DS, came in second, while the Xbox 360 took tenth place.

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