U.S. Computer-Based Holiday Sales Still Going Strong, Says comScore

(IDEX Online News) – Digital sales tracking firm comScore reported continuing strong holiday season U.S. retail e-commerce spending from desktop computers for the first 51 days of the November-December 2014 holiday season.

For the holiday season-to-date, $48.3 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

The most recent week (December 15-21) posted 18-percent growth in online sales, taking in $5.8 billion in desktop spending in what was the last full week before Christmas.

The week began with two billion dollar days – Monday, December 15 at $1.07 billion and Tuesday, December 16 at $1.16 billion – while Free Shipping Day (Thursday, December 18) saw $926 million in desktop spending.

“This final week of online holiday shopping before Christmas was very strong, finishing off the season on a high note and virtually guaranteeing e-commerce spending will outperform our pre-season forecast,” said comScore chairman emeritus Gian Fulgoni.

“We are now running at a 15-percent growth rate in desktop e-commerce for the season, which should be taken as a very positive sign for the economic health of both the American consumer and the e-commerce channel as a whole. While the heaviest spending days of the season are now behind us, there is still about another $5 billion that will be spent over the balance of the year that will get us to new all-time highs for e-commerce.”