|
RAPAPORT... U.S. online retail sales rose 15 percent year on year to $42.451 billion for the first 44 days of the Christmas season, through December 15, according to digital metrics firm comScore Inc. The most recent workweek, beginning with December 8, which is called Green Monday, posted a 12 percent increase as sales totaled $8.618 billion from desktop spending. The period also marked a second consecutive week with all five workdays reaching sales of at least $1 billion, comScore stated. “Despite a slight deceleration in growth rates during this past week, we still observed strong spending in total with five more days surpassing $1 billion in sales to bring us to fourteen for the holiday season to date,” said comScore's chairman emeritus, Gian Fulgoni. “While it’s not uncommon for the week after Cyber Week to experience a relative lull, as retailers pull back on promotions and consumers catch their breath before the final gift buying push, it is encouraging that the 15 percent spending growth rate for the season-to-date remains slightly above our forecast of 14 percent. We expect early next week to experience one last surge in online buying leading up to free shipping day on December 18th, after which the online Christmas shopping season should start winding down.”
|