Weak online sales during festive season

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ComScore's chairman, Gian Fulgoni, attributes this drop to several factors. "The 2008 online holiday shopping season has declined 3 percent versus year ago, falling behind our expectation of flat sales this year," Fulgoni said. "This marks the first time we've seen negative growth rates for the holiday season since we began tracking e-commerce in 2001. The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online."