The 15% improvement in e-commerce which began with the Black Friday weekend has continued at a nearly identical pace since then. Some analysts were concerned the American consumer would spend whatever money he had early in the holiday season and this would cause December sales to falter. That has not happened.
comScore reported today holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 46 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $30.9 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent work week (Dec. 12-16) saw four individual days surpass $1 billion in spending, led by Green Monday (Monday, December 12) with $1.13 billion and Free Shipping Day (Friday, December 16) with $1.07 billion. With the heaviest portion of the season behind us, Cyber Monday appears likely to rank as the heaviest online spending day of the year for the second consecutive season.
The National Federation of Retailers has also revised its sales estimates higher for the holidays. a proof that bricks-and-mortar store sales have strengthened as the number of weeks to Christmas drop.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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