2010 Online Holiday Spending Hits $32.6 Billion

Online holiday shopping for November and December of 2010 hit a record $32.6 billion,  representing a 12 percent increase over the previous year.  This is a finding by comScore,  a global leader in measuring the digital world and a source of digital marketing intelligence.  For the sake of comparison, consider that between November 1 and December 31, 2009, online purchases totaled $29.084 billion.  On Black Friday alone – the day after Thanksgiving – online purchases totaled $648 million, compared with $595 million one year ago.

“The 2010 online holiday shopping season was a memorable one in which we saw spending rebound strongly from the recession of 2008 and 2009, and slightly exceed even our early expectations,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman.  “We saw spending increase at a rate of 12 percent for the season, outpacing our forecasted 11 percent growth, and set a new holiday season record as total e-commerce spending reached $32.6 billion.  This year, retailers targeted many of their promotions even earlier than usual and reaped the benefits.  The season will be remembered for an exceptional Cyber Monday, which was the first billion-dollar spending day in history, and the first time we’ve seen Cyber Monday rank as the heaviest online spending day of the year.  And of course, we cannot forget the impact of free shipping, which was used in more than half of all e-commerce transactions this season, up significantly from last year.”

Cyber Monday (November 29) online sales totaled $1.028 billion this year.  Green Monday (December 13) came in a close second with $954 million worth of online transactions.  Free shipping day (Friday, December 17) was in third place, with $942 million worth of sales.