Shoppers spent nearly $28 billion online this holiday season, comScore says
Shoppers spent nearly $28 billion online between November 1 and December 27, a 19% increase over last year, according to data released by comScore Networks Inc.
"Even as the holiday shopping season winds down after Christmas, we continue to see some relatively strong online spending days," says Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. "For example, the day after Christmas saw online sales of $545 million, more than double the sales on the same day last year.” That indicates consumers took advantage of late-season promotions and price discounts offered by retailers post-Christmas, according to Fulgoni.
ComScore data tracking specific days during the holiday shopping season shows individual increases year over year that exceed the 19% higher average for this season. The peak online shopping day, December 10, at $880 million in sales, was 33% higher than last year. With sales of $730 million, the Monday after Thanksgiving, November 26, was 21% higher.
The core holiday shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year was 32 days versus last year’s 31 days. This year, online sales during this period grew by 21% to $18 billion, a full 2 percentage points higher than the overall holiday season to date growth rate, according to comScore.
Fulgoni notes the year to date average gain in holiday spending online at 19% is lower than 2006’s gain over 2005 sales during the same period: 26%. "However, if we look at the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we see online spending growing at a healthier 21% rate," he says. Fulgoni calls the 21% growth rate encouraging given "economic challenges facing consumers this year as a result of higher gas prices, lower home values and a jittery stock market."
ComScore’s retail data, drawn from a panel of more than 2 million online consumers, excludes travel and auction sales as well as large corporate purchases.
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