eCommerce’s Rich Get Richer, While Daily Deals Fade

Missed today’s big presentation from comScore? Don’t worry — we’ve got five things you need to know from today’s presentation, “State of US Online Retail Economy Q2 2012.”

• Ecommerce continues to grow, with 16 percent annualized expansion through the first half of the year.

Consumers spent $43.1 billion in the second quarter, up from $37.5 billion over the same timeframe a year ago. Combined with first quarter spending, we’re looking at an annualized growth rate of 16 percent in retail spending (excludes travel) relative to 2011. However, comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni says he is taking a “cautious view” of this year’s second half, due to sour economic conditions.

• Nearly three out of every four consumers with web access (72 percent) have made an online purchase.

U.S. eCommerce penetration has grown to 178 million users, up from 170 million in last year’s second quarter. The overall rate of 72 percent is up roughly two percentage points over the same time frame. And each buyer is spending; comScore reported $242 spent per buyer this quarter, up 10 percent from the same time a year ago.

• The web’s most popular sites continue to grow their audiences at a rapid pace.

Apple (47.5 million monthly uniques) and Walmart (41.4 million) saw their web audiences grow by 24 and 23 percent respectively over the year. Amazon’s growth rate was much lower (7 percent), but its audience is much larger, averaging 100.7 million uniques per month over the last quarter.

• Daily deal sites are losing eyeballs.

The two most recognizable brands in daily deals — Groupon and LivingSocial — are seeing their audiences shrink. Groupon’s audience is down five percent over the year, to 11.8 million uniques, while LivingSocial is down a whopping 35 percent according to comScore, to 6.7 million viewers.

• Mobile devices (including tablets) account for nine percent of all eCommerce spending.

The rate is up slightly from Q1 (8%), which itself was down slightly from the prior quarter. Since the third quarter of 2011, mobile spending inclusive of tablets has hovered between eight and nine percent as a share of all eCommerce spending.