Focus on U.S. Investment Immigration and U.S. Economic news: According to data released by comScore, a U.S. internet traffic monitoring agency, U.S. online retail sales reached $47.5 billion in Q3 2013, a year-on-year increase of 13%, achieving 16 consecutive quarters of year-on-year positive growth and 12 quarters of double-digit growth. Mobile e-commerce on smartphones and tablets contributed $5.8 billion in sales for the quarter, a year-on-year increase of 26%. The total digital commerce sales for the third quarter amounted to $53.2 billion.
Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, stated that although e-commerce sales increased by 13% year-on-year in the third quarter, the growth rate slightly declined compared to the previous quarter. Other macroeconomic indicators also suggest that disposable income was relatively weak in the third quarter. With the holiday shopping season approaching, this situation is concerning. However, optimistically, it may be that significant expenditures on housing and automobiles temporarily squeezed other discretionary spending, leading to a slight decline in the consumer confidence index in the third quarter. Nevertheless, the reduced growth rate still indicates a worrying outlook for retailers ahead of the holiday shopping season, compounded by the fact that the shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are shorter this year, reduced by 6 days compared to last year, marking the shortest shopping season since 2002. Despite this, Gian Fulgoni believes that the growth rate of online sales will once again far exceed that of physical sales, confirming the major trend of the shift from physical sales to e-commerce.
Additionally, the best-selling products online in Q3 2013 included digital content and subscriptions, clothing and accessories, fast-moving consumer goods, consumer electronics, jewelry, and watches. Each product category saw a year-on-year growth of over 14%. E-commerce accounted for 9.4% of consumer discretionary spending, setting a record for the highest share in the third quarter. Of the $5.8 billion in mobile e-commerce sales, smartphones accounted for 62%, while tablets accounted for 38%.