E-Commerce Grew by Nearly 50% During Holiday Shopping Season, Pasadena Retailers Adapt

[UPDATED] Retail sales over the holiday season saw a modest 3% increase compared with last year, while some categories saw significant decreases, but online sales grew by 49%, according to a report released by Mastercard over the weekend.

The national figures represent the period between Oct. 11 and Dec. 24 and account for all retail sales other than automobiles and gasoline, according to the Mastercard Spending Pulse report.

But the pattern was not divided equally among various categories of retailers. Some saw significant upticks in business, while others sustained significant losses. Some found boosts in e-commerce were not enough to offset overall decreased sales trends.

Furniture and furnishing sales increased by 31% overall, with a 16.2% increase in online sales, according to the report. Home improvement sales jumped by 79.7%, with a 14.1% increase in online sales.

Apparel sales decreased by 19.1%, despite a 15.7% boost in e-commerce transactions, according to Mastercard. Jewelry sales declined by 4.3%, although online sales were up by 44.6%

Overall sales on luxury goods, excluding jewelry, decreased by 21.1%.

The trend could be seen at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, CEO Julia Cowlishaw said.

The store has been selling online for years, she said. “But prior to the pandemic, e-commerce was only about 1% of our sales. During the pandemic, they probably are at least 30% of our sales on average. So it’s been a big transition for us.”

Despite a strong showing of community support in the latter portion of the year, the store will end the year with a significant decrease in income compared to the prior year, according to Cowlishaw, who estimated that December sales were down by about 35%.

But at some points over the past few months, especially after reaching out to the public for help, the bookstore found itself inundated with more orders that it could handle.

“I’d like to thank [customers] for how supportive they’ve been of us. They’ve been encouraging and patient and we could not be more grateful,” Cowlishaw said. “And we’re just asking people to remember to continue to shop locally with Vroman’s and all your other local Pasadena businesses, continuously, because we’ve still got a few months to go through of this pandemic before we can really operate like we’d like to.”

WalkerViden Luxury Consignment Co-Owner and Artistic Director Jennie Walker said that while the business saw an uptick during the holiday shopping season, “overall, we’re way down.”

“When we were closed, obviously, there were no indoor sales. When we were able to reopen, very few people wanted to come into the store, even though they could. And now with only 20% in-store capacity… the in-store sales are pretty much non-existent.

“Most of what we have is online at this point, and the online sales are still less than they were before the pandemic,” Walker said.

In the past, about half of the store’s revenue came from online sales and half came from in-person shopping, she said. “Now, we’re getting about 95% of our revenues online, but it’s still less than our previous income. So we’re just way down overall.”

Walker said she’s tried offering incentives like free or discounted shipping to boost sales.

“Fortunately, 100% of our inventory is online on ebay. And that is something that we worked to do a number of years ago,” she said. “And it’s been a lifesaver. And for retailers who aren’t online yet, they’ve got to find a way to get there because that’s where everybody is. And will probably continue to be there even after COVID is over.”

Walker encouraged the community to patronize local business online, either through their individual websites, or through companies like eBay or Amazon.

“You could literally be a part in saving some small businesses by simply buying online in general, but specifically for our industry, which is the pre-owned and secondary market for goods,” she said.

“When you think of an Amazon, when you think of an eBay, it’s important not to think of them as entities. You have to think of them as individual sellers and storefronts behind each of these huge platforms. And these are independent and small businesses that are making a living this way and by buying online. You’re really helping small sellers and independent businesses stay afloat and stay alive.”

The onset of stay-at-home orders, accompanied by the suddenly swelled population of people working from home, appeared to have injected livelihood into the furniture business, Fedde Furniture President Mark Fedde said.

“With the amount of people that suddenly, by surprise, found that they were working from home, if they were fortunate enough to be able to do that, there were definitely new needs that people had, be it the simplest flat top desk or the most basic of desk chairs. So there was that category,” he said.

Many people also sought to do some redecorating based on the large amount of time they are now spending at home, boosting sales of sofas, Fedde said. “We definitely saw certain categories of increase.”

Fedde Furniture had not established online sales, Fedde said.

“We do not have an e-commerce format at this time, because we encourage people — whether they’re buying from us or other stores like ours — you need to go in and physically see a wood finish or a fabric color or a leather color. Because you just can’t buy that correctly over the internet, he said.

All things considered, “We’re doing fine. We still have two showrooms and we’re all working really hard, but it’s because of the great customers that we have,” Fedde said..

“We have been in this community for 83 years. We’ve seen a lot of changes and it’s very saddening to see certain long term family businesses change in this area over the years,” Fedde said. “We’re here for the long run to continue to take care of our customers as they come in here to visit us.”

Pasadena Chamber of Commerce President Paul Little said he was not surprised by the trend.

“Online spending has been increasing at the cost of brick-and-mortar stores for the past several years,” he said. “The pandemic accelerated that trend and may have habitualized online shopping for people who might have supported local stores in the past.”

With some businesses, such as grocery stores, “online ordering either bolsters in-person shopping or displaces it, while maintaining the income for the store,” Little said.

But most holiday shopping involves gifts, he said. “I expect the bulk of that went to Amazon, Walmart and others to the detriment of local community stores and shops that depend on shoppers in their stores to survive.”

Little said he feared the economic climate would get worse before it improves.

“I would be very surprised if we didn’t lose a good portion of our locally owned shops this year, especially if the federal government can’t get it together to put a new round of funding into small business support,” he said.