Holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 18 days of the November-December 2012 season is $10.1 billion to date, according to new data released by comScore. That’s up 16% compared to the same time period last year.
“The 2012 online holiday shopping season is off to an encouraging start with a 16-percent growth thus far,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “Recent 5-year highs in consumer confidence and early retailer promotions appear to be serving as wind in the sails for the beginning portion of the holiday season, with consumers opening up their wallets early and often. This spending growth also reflects the continuing channel shift to online as consumers increasingly opt for the attractive pricing, convenience and product selection it offers.”
November 8, a Thursday, has been the heaviest online spending day of the season so far, at $829 million.
comScore believes that online retail spending will hit $43.4 billion for the season, which would be a 17% increase from last year.