comScore Reports Online Holiday Sales At $48.3 Billion

The final week of online holiday spending before Christmas surged 18 percent versus the year-ago period, according to comScore.

The company reported Tuesday that for the “holiday season-to-date, $48.3 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

“The most recent week (Dec. 15-21) posted a strong 18-percent growth in online sales, taking in $5.8 billion in desktop spending in what was the last full week before Christmas.

“The week began with two billion dollar days – Monday, Dec. 15 at $1.07 billion and Tuesday, Dec. 16 at $1.16 billion – while Free Shipping Day (Thursday, Dec. 18) saw $926 million in desktop spending.”

“This final week of online holiday shopping before Christmas was very strong, finishing off the season on a high note and virtually guaranteeing e-commerce spending will outperform our pre-season forecast,” said comScore chairman emeritus Gian Fulgoni. “We are now running at a 15-percent growth rate in desktop e-commerce for the season, which should be taken as a very positive sign for the economic health of both the American consumer and the e-commerce channel as a whole. While the heaviest spending days of the season are now behind us, there is still about another $5 billion that will be spent over the balance of the year that will get us to new all-time highs for e-commerce.”