Online purchasing behavior monitoring company comScore said that e-commerce spending from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve was about $27 million, and increase of 5% over last year.
For the period from Black Friday through Christmas Eve, and after adjusting for the additional shopping day in 2009, sales grew by approximately 3.5%.
ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said the season saw a strong start as a result of early retailer promotions. The momentum continued as merchants were willing to offer free shipping later in the season, plus consumers were more confident in expedited shipping so gifts would arrive in time.
The snowstorms that hit the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast the weekend of Dec. 19 also helped. In fact, the weekend of the snowstorms, e-commerce sales reached $767 million, which was 13% over the same weekend the prior year.
ComScore’s figures are in line with a macro-economic report released this week by MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse that said retail sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 rose an estimated 3.6%.
But SpendingPulse charted a 15.5% rise in e-commerce sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 and an 18% rise between Black Friday and Dec. 24.
In 2008, comScore reported e-commerce sales were down 3% over the Nov. 1 to Dec. 23 period compared to the same time in 2007.