Survey: Holiday e-commerce spending surpasses $22 billion
More than $22 billion has been spent online during the holiday season to date (Nov. 1-Dec. 14), representing an 18 percent increase compared with the same period last year, according to ComScore Inc.
Monday, Dec. 10, or “Green Monday,” a term recently coined by eBay to describe the second Monday in December as the heaviest online spending day of the season, may well live up to its billing. Online sales reached $881 million that day (up 33 percent versus a year ago), marking the heaviest online spending day in history.
“Despite the strong surge in spending we observed at the beginning of last week, with both Monday and Tuesday easily surpassing $800 million in sales and showing very strong growth rates, the remainder of the week saw more modest spending,” ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. “However, we anticipate that spending at the beginning of this week will again be strong with most free shipping deals available until Tuesday, Dec. 18.”
According to ComScore, two other individual shopping days this holiday season have also surpassed $800 million in online sales, including Tuesday, Dec. 11, with $819 million, and Thursday, Dec. 6, with $803 million. Wednesday, Dec. 5, came in just shy of that threshold with $798 million in online spending. Monday, Nov. 26, or Cyber Monday, considered the kickoff day for the online holiday shopping season, saw $733 million in sales.
ComScore’s analysis of online spending by household income reveals that this year’s 18 percent online retail spending growth rate is well below the 26 percent growth rate seen at the same time last year. While households earning at least $100,000 have increased their online spending 28 percent versus a year ago, households making less than $50,000 have increased their spending by just 10 percent.
“The current economic realities appear to be having a negative impact on the growth in consumer spending,” Fulgoni said. “From the sub-prime housing meltdown to a decline in home values to higher gas prices and an uncertain stock market, many consumers across all income segments are either feeling the pinch this holiday season or are lacking the confidence to spend at the rate they had in the past. Consumers in lower income segments appear to be the most affected, as evidenced by the sluggish growth in their rate of online spending.”
ComScore Inc. measures the digital world based on a global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given the company permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. ComScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions.