It’s no secret that more and more holiday shopping is taking place online, and the numbers are in for the first month and a half of spending ahead of the 2012 holidays.
Compared to the corresponding period of 2011, total online sales are 13% higher to $35B, with major gains posted on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.
The Black Friday number may be significant since it has traditionally been the day of the season when the focus has traditionally been on brick and mortar venues.
“We expected this past week to be record-setting and it clearly was, with an impressive spending total of more than $7 billion – an average of more than $1 billion in spending per day,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “This current week, which kicked off with Free Shipping Day on Monday the 17th, will be critical in making up some ground on a season-to-date growth rate that remains below initial expectations at 13 percent following a prolonged post-Cyber Monday lull. With many retailers extending their free shipping offers into Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, we just may see the sort of late-season jolt needed to push growth rates back into the mid-teens.”
Here are the latest numbers from comScore, adjusted for differences in the calendars. All dollar figures are in millions:
| Period | 2011 | 2012 | Chng |
| Nov 1-Dec 16 | $31,067 | $35,004 | 13% |
| Thanksgiving Day (Nov 22) | $479 | $633 | 32% |
| Black Friday (Nov 23) | $816 | $1,042 | 28% |
| Tgvg Wknd (Nov 24-25) | $1,031 | $1,187 | 15% |
| Cyber Monday (Nov 26) | $1,251 | $1,465 | 17% |
| Green Monday | $1,133 | $1,275 | 13% |
| Week of Dec 10-16 | $6,286 | $7,019 | 12% |
| Source: comScore |
