Business

Web, gift cards taking bigger bite from store sales

They’re making a list, they’re checking it twice — but this holiday season, shoppers are clicking on Web sites instead of hitting the stores.

Holiday shoppers are spurning mall purchases in record numbers, massively stepping up their online, gift card and non-physical store spending, according to astonishing new retail analysis.

Despite the latest surge in overall US holiday spending — up 1.3 percent last month, the biggest monthly retail sales gain since August — harried consumers are conveniently splurging more online.

The traditional stores are still like a crazed zoo this holiday. But it’s more window shopping than spending. Brick-and-mortar sales are losing out at a breathtaking rate to upstart competitors.

Robust holiday spending should help lift the uncertain economy. But while the forecasted $451 billion in overall US sales at brick-and-mortar outlets in November and December is up 3.3 percent over last year, corresponding estimated online spending is up a much steeper 16 percent to $52 billion, according to Forrester Research.

Last year, traditional holiday spending hit $437.02 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s a 0.4 percent increase over 2008. By contrast, online spending reached $44.7 billion last year, a leap of 8 percent.

Once so-called person-to-person sales, a category that includes gift cards, checks, and the electronic gifting of money, are stripped away from the $451 billion total, direct brick-and-mortar purchases look shakier.

A new report by Aite Group estimates person-to-person sales of $86 billion this holiday season. Of that, gift cards alone account for $23 billion in sales, growing at 10 percent annually.

At current levels, gangbuster growth in non-traditional buys — starting with Cyber Monday, which had record sales this year — could dramatically change mall holiday traffic patterns. Ron Shevlin, the Aite senior analyst who wrote the eye-opening report, would not be surprised.

“When I went shopping the other night, my wife said, ‘good luck getting a parking spot,’ ” Shevlin told The Post.

“But there was nobody there when I got to the mall. Literally the first spot right outside the door was available.”

Natalie Del Valle, a staffer for a tax service in Midtown, said her company sees the change in year-end tax reviews.

“Our clients’ spending on in-store merchandise is on the decline and many receipts are from Web sites,” she said. “Instead of seeing stacks of receipts for clothes, shoes, perfumes or trinkets, many are simply gift card purchases.”

Not everyone is pleased. This week, Best Buy, the nation’s No. 1 electronic chain, acknowledged losing market share, facing an onslaught from low-cost competitors like online retailer Amazon.

The Minneapolis-based company stunned the Street by reporting a sharp 5 percent drop in same-store sales in the latest quarter. Best Buy stores have been transformed into “showrooms that people visit before they go buy stuff online,” according to a Wall Street investor.

Still, enterprising brick-and-mortar merchants are thinking outside the box, pushing their online sales, analysts say.

JCPenney itself told The Post that online sales have scaled to amazing new heights for this holiday season.

Its online retail Web site recorded a 500 percent increase in hits to its server on Black Friday compared with last year, according to spokesman Tim Lyons.

He said Cyber Monday sales were up 20 percent over 2009. Lyons noted that online same-store sales in November were up 12 percent from last year, compared with an increase of 9. 2 percent in overall sales that include gift cards, for JCPenney.

Shevlin says there’s much at stake.

“In 10 years, it’s hard to imagine we’ll still have the same hype that starts around Black Friday with shoppers lined up outside stores at 4 a.m.,” he said. “There’s hardly a reason to rush out after Thanksgiving to go shopping. You can place your order online in 30 seconds and then have it shipped free within 24 hours.”