Cyber Monday ‘Heaviest Online Spending Day in U.S. History,’ comScore Says

Dec 3, 2015 11:20 AM By Rapaport News

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RAPAPORT... Cyber Monday online retail sales in the U.S. jumped 12 percent to hit $2.3 billion, making November 30 the “heaviest spending day” in the country’s history and the first 24-hour period in 2015 to surpass this level of revenues, according to comScore.

The weekend after Thanksgiving also reached a major milestone as it saw its first ever billion-dollar online shopping day on Sunday, while Saturday sales reached the $1 billion mark for second year in a row. Over the two days combined, revenues advanced 8 percent year-on-year to $2.2 billion.

E-commerce spending from desktop computers for the first 30 days of the 2015 holiday season reached $27.9 billion, a 6 percent rise from a year ago. Online retail revenue during the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday climbed 10 percent to $7.2 billion, comScore, a data analytics company that claims to be a leader in measuring the digital world, said December 2.

“Cyber Monday maintained its reputation as the most important online spending day of year, exceeding $3 billion in total digital spending and once again becoming the heaviest online spending day of all-time,” comScore chairman emeritus Gian Fulgoni said.

Total digital spend on Cyber Monday surged 21 percent to $3.1 billion. Mobile commerce on Cyber Monday – including on smartphones and tablets – is estimated to have accounted for $838 million, or 27 per cent of sales.

Amazon was the most visited e-commerce website, with traffic surging 23 percent year-on-year to 107.8 million Americans, comScore said. The top-five most visited sites included Walmart, eBay, Target, and Best Buy.

The comScore figures are, however, not in line with a forecast from the National Retail Federation that had predicted online sales on Cyber Monday would drop 4.6 percent as it saw shoppers spreading their purchases over a longer period rather than being focused on a single day.

“Despite some talk of Cyber Monday declining in importance, the day’s historical highs and continued strong growth rates confirm it is still a hugely important shopping event,” Fulgoni said.

Tags: black friday, comScore, cyber monday, holiday sales, National Retail Federation, Rapaport News, retail, u.s.