During the busiest part of the holiday season, independent merchants who sell on sites like eBay, Etsy and Amazon are seeing sustained increases in sales volume on a par with big-box retailers, according to a company whose product is used by small online businesses.
Outright, a Web-based accounting software vendor, reports that small businesses experienced an average sales growth of 68 percent on Cyber Monday—and the higher sales volume has held up since then, the firm notes.
"It is great to see that the gains these online small businesses saw over Thanksgiving weekend have continued to materialize," says Steven Aldrich, CEO of Outright. "These small businesses are critical to the growth of the economy as a whole. When they are doing well, the country is doing well."
The data was compiled from a random sampling of 5,000 of Outright's small business customers, who sell primarily on online marketplaces, such as eBay, Etsy and Amazon.
Outright reports that after seeing 68-percent sales growth on Cyber Monday—a day on which online retail sales totalled $1.25 billion—its customers' sales remained at this higher level through Wednesday. By Thursday of the week known as Cyber Week, sales slowed somewhat, but remained more than 40 percent above normal, and they continue at this level, according to Outright.
comScore says Cyber Week shoppers this year spent 15 percent more online than last year, for a total of nearly $6 billion.
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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