Pre-Christmas Online Jewelry Sales +11%

Photo: Jesse CourteManche

(IDEX Online News) - When a blizzard hit the Northeast U.S. last week, many viewed it as a blow to last minute holiday sales. But there were those that benefited from people being stuck at home - online retailers. It helped push U.S. online holiday season spending to a record $30.8 billion, comScore reported Wednesday.

E-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the holiday season increased 13 percent. The week ending December 26 witnessed $2.45 billion in spending, an increase of 17 percent versus the corresponding week last year.

The measuring firm also reported the top ten growing retail categories, saying jewelry and watch sales increased 11 percent compared to the first 56 days of the 2009 holiday season.

Computer Hardware ranks as the top growing category for the holiday season to date with a 23 percent increase versus last year. Purchases of handheld devices such as Apple iPads and laptops have driven much of the category growth.

“For at least this holiday season, the American consumer has been able to shrug off the continuing economic challenges of high unemployment rates and depressed housing prices and spend at a rate that has been slightly stronger than we had expected,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.