Online Holiday Shopping Beats Forecast, Brings in $15.3 Billion

Online holiday shopping has totaled $15.3 billion so far this season, according to digital researcher comScore. Total retail spending for the November 1 – December 4 period marks a 4 percent increase from 2008. 

Substantive increases, compared to 2008, were recorded on Thanksgiving Day (November 26), Black Friday (November 27) and Cyber Monday (November 30) as well.

Thanksgiving Day brought in $318 million in sales, a 10 percent increase and Black Friday online sales totaled $595 million, marking an 11 percent increase from last year. Cyber Monday saw a whopping $887 million in retail spending, a 5 percent increase from 2008.

comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said two categories that have been contributing strongly to this growth are consumer electronics and computer hardware, with e-readers, GPS devices, digital cameras, flat-panel TVs and laptops among the most popular sellers.

“We have now passed the halfway point of the season with the 4 percent growth in online spending to date slightly exceeding comScore’s forecast of an overall 3 percent growth rate for the entire season,” Fulgoni said.