Americans spend almost $22 billion in online holiday shopping

Americans spend almost $22 billion in online holiday shopping

2010-12-13 23:06:12 GMT+7 (ICT)

RESTON, VIRGINIA (BNO NEWS) -- Holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 40 days of the November - December holiday season surpassed $21.95 billion, according to a comScore report on Monday.

comScore, an Internet marketing research company that provides marketing data and services, said the numbers indicate an increase of around 12 percent compared to the corresponding days in 2009.

The most recent week, the week ending December 10, reached $5.15 billion in spending, an increase of about 11 percent versus the corresponding week last year. Two individual days of the week each surpassed $900 million.

"Growth rates during the most recent week settled in at around 11 percent, which is consistent with our forecasted spending growth rate for the holiday season," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

He added: "With more than $5 billion in spending this past week, it's clear that while deal-seeking shoppers may have driven stronger than anticipated spending early in the season, Americans continue to demonstrate a significantly greater willingness to spend online this year than in seasons past."

Despite the strong numbers, Fulgoni said the coming week, beginning with Green Monday, is expected to see some of the heaviest online shopping activity of the season. "We expect at least one more day to surpass the billion dollar spending threshold," he added.

In 2007, eBay coined the term "Green Monday" to describe the Monday occurring around the second week of December, which has tended to be the heaviest (or among the heaviest) online spending days of the year.

An analysis of the past five holiday shopping seasons reveals that Green Monday has had very high spending levels each year, ranking as the top spending day of the season in 2005 and 2007, and the second heaviest spending day in 2006 and 2008.

In 2009, Green Monday was only the fifth heaviest day of the season, with the following Tuesday, December 15, ranking as the heaviest with $913 million in spending.

Since comScore began tracking e-commerce spending in 2001, it has witnessed five individual shopping days eclipse $900 million in spending.

To date, this year's Cyber Monday 2010 (November 29) is the only billion dollar spending day on record. It is followed by Monday, December 6, with $943 million and Tuesday, December 15, 2009 with $913 million.

Of the ten heaviest online spending days on record, most have occurred during the early part of the work week with four occurring on Mondays, three on Tuesdays, and two on Wednesdays.

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