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RAPAPORT... Online retail sales for Cyber Monday, which was November 26, jumped 17 percent year on year to $1.47 billion, according to comScore Inc. The amount set a new record high for a single spending day. U.S. retail spending online for the first 26 days of the 2012 Christmas season has risen 16 percent year on year to $16.4 billion, according to the company. “Despite some news reports suggesting that Cyber Monday might be declining in importance, the day has once again set an online spending record at nearly $1.5 billion,” said comScore's chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “However, it is also clear that the holiday promotional period has begun even earlier this year, with strong online sales occurring on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Now, we shall see the extent to which continuing and attractive retailer promotions are able to boost sales for the remainder of the week.” Top-performing categories on Cyber Monday included digital content and subscriptions, which rose 28 percent year on year. Sales of consumer electronics, buoyed by gains in smartphone sales, jumped 24 percent, while tablet sales helped the computer hardware category post a 22 percent growth rate. Video games, consoles and accessories rose 18 percent, and revenue for the jewelry and watches category jumped 17 percent, according to comScore. Nearly half of the total dollars spent online during Cyber Monday came from shoppers using their work computers, at 47.1 percent, but that was down slightly from 2011. Buying from home computers comprised the slight majority at 47.2 percent, while buying at U.S. websites from international locations accounted for 5.7 percent of sales. “The term ‘Cyber Monday’ was coined by Shop.org in 2005 to refer to the significant jump in e-commerce spending that occurred following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as consumers got back to sitting in front of computer screens at work,” said Fulgoni. “At the time and for several years afterward, Cyber Monday was often misconstrued as the heaviest online spending day of the year, when in fact it barely cracked the top 10 days of the season. However, with the passage of time, the day grew in importance as a result of an increasing number of retailers offering very attractive deals on the day and extensive digital media coverage making sure that consumers were aware of them. As a result, Cyber Monday has assumed the mantle of top online spending day for the past two years – a trend we expect to hold once again in 2012.”
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