E-commerce Spending Falls in 2009

E-commerce fell in 2009 for the first time since they have been keeping records on e-commerce sales. The e-commerce industry had been growing by double digits until 2008.  In 2008 e-commerce sales grew 6%, while last year they were down 2%. While holiday sales were strong at the end of 2009 it wasn’t enough to bring the year into positive territory. If you are an e-commerce developer and have some numbers that you can share with us please leave some comments.

While the e-commerce industry as a whole was down in 2009 there was some growth in certain segments.  The book and magazine segments saw a 12% growth, software was up 7%, sports and fitness was up 6%, jewelry and electronics were up 4%.

Poor search functions have long been a common complaint on e-commerce sites for some time now. If you have an e-commerce site make sure that you have a strong and well functioning search function.

Hopefully 2010 will bring the industry back into positive trends.

E-commerce results from comScore