Consumers Aren’t Shopping Online, Either

It is not only retail stores that are feeling the pinch as shoppers close their wallets just ahead of the holiday season. E-commerce sales, though still growing faster than retail, are hurting, too.

E-commerce spending growth slowed to 6 percent in the third quarter over the year before, down from 13 percent in the second quarter, according to comScore. Growth rates have declined every month since April, and September’s rate of 5 percent was the lowest recorded by comScore since it started tracking e-commerce in 2001. More