Online holiday spending nears $20 billion, up 3 percent annually
Online holiday spending hit $19.9 billion for the first 41 days of the shopping season, according to market researcher comScore.
Those sales are up 3 percent compared to the corresponding days of Nov. 1 through Dec. 11 last year. In the most recent week, average online spending was up 4 percent compared to a year ago, with two days surpassing $800 million in spending. Since 2001, only 13 days have eclipsed $800 million.
On Thursday, spending hit $852 million. Generally, spending has been up on big days. On Thanksgiving, sales were $318 million, up 10 percent from $288 million a year ago. On Black Friday, Nov. 27, spending was $595 million, up 11 percent from $534 million a year ago.
Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, predicted that Monday Dec. 14, known as Green Monday, is likely to produce the heaviest online spending total for the season. He expects its to surpass $900 million, which would be a record compared to $887 million record set on Dec. 9, 2008. The early part of this week will see the heaviest online spending before shoppers return their focus to brick-and-mortar retail stores since shipping times will mean the online gifts will no longer arrive before Christmas.
