comScore reported U.S. desktop retail ecommerce spending for the first 28 days of the November–December 2014 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $22.7 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year.
Thanksgiving Day saw a significant 32% gain to $1.01 billion in spending to surpass the billion dollar threshold for the first time in its history and marking the first day of the 2014 season to reach that level. Black Friday (November 28) followed with an even stronger spending day with $1.51 billion in desktop online sales, up 26% from Black Friday 2013.
“The strength we saw in the early online buying rush likely reflects a few things, including overall health in consumer spending, responsiveness to the strong deals being offered online, and perhaps some shoppers opting to stay home on Thanksgiving rather than head out to the stores that opened their doors early,” said comScore chairman emeritus Gian Fulgoni. “Regardless of the particular drivers, it’s clear that the online holiday rush is getting off to a very good start and is reason for optimism as we get into the heart of the buying season.”