Final Results: Holiday Online Spending Hits a Record $37.2 billion

Retail e-commerce spending for the November – December 2011 holiday season (November 1 - December 31) increased 15 percent, year-over-year, to $37.2 billion, an all-time record for the season, according to comScore, a company that measures digital data and provides digital business analytics.

Ten individual spending days surpassed $1 billion in sales, as compared to just one day reaching that mark in 2010, the Reston, Va.-based company said. Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving Day, November 28) ranked as the heaviest online spending day of the year at $1.25 billion, the second consecutive year it has ranked first for the season. The second heaviest spending day was Monday, December 5 at $1.17 billion, followed by Monday, December 12 at $1.13 billion. Tuesday, November 29 ($1.11 billion) and Tuesday, December 6 ($1.10 billion).

With the relative newness and growing acceptance of digital e-commerce, it’s common for online sales to exceed the prior year’s results. However, the 2011 holiday season was exceptional by any standard.

“With brick-and-mortar holiday retail estimated to have grown about 4 percent this year, it’s clear that e-commerce continues to gain market share from traditional retail due to the attractiveness of the Internet’s convenience and lower prices,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. “Consumers were especially attracted to the deals and discounts available through digital channels—particularly free shipping, which occurred on well over half of transactions this season. Despite their continuing price sensitivity, consumers felt a bit more comfortable opening up their wallets this year, although this appears to have occurred as a result of a decline in the savings rate. Nonetheless, it’s clear that, at least on the basis of top line growth, this was a Merry Christmas for many online retailers. What will remain unknown until retailers report their financial year end results is whether the aggressive pricing and free shipping offers came at the cost of lower margins.”

Record Setting Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday reached $1.25 billion in online spending in the U.S., up 22 percent year-over-year, representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the second day on record to surpass the billion-dollar threshold, according to comScore, a firm that specializes in measuring digital data.

“Cyber Monday was yet another historic day for e-commerce,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. “While last year saw Cyber Monday rank as the heaviest online spending day of the year for the first time ever, it will be interesting to watch the next couple of weeks to see if any future individual days in 2011 manage to leapfrog this year’s highest day-to-date.”

Cyber Monday’s sales growth was driven by an increase in both the number of buyers (up 11 percent) and the average spending per buyer (up 9 percent), the Reston, Va.-based firm said. Overall, 10 million people bought online on Cyber Monday, representing the first time on record that threshold has been reached in a single day. The average online buyer conducted 1.9 online transactions on Cyber Monday for a total of nearly $125 in spending.

Half of dollars spent online at U.S. Web sites originated from work computers, up slightly from last year, comScore reported. Buying from home comprised the majority of the remaining share (43.2 percent) while buying at U.S. Web sites from international locations accounted for 6.6 percent of sales.

For the first 28 days of the holiday season (November 1 – 28), $15 billion has been spent online, a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday. Shop.org, an association of multi-channel retailers was the first to use the term in 2005 after retailers discovered that online sales increased on that particular day. In 2006, Shop.org launched the CyberMonday.com portal, a one-stop shop for Cyber Monday deals. Cyber Monday is now one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

Two Fancy Colored Diamonds Valued at $408,000 on Sale for Cyber Monday

2.04-carat pear-shaped orange pink colored diamond

Among the many items being offered on Cyber Monday, less than an hour away, are two natural fancy colored diamonds valued at $408,750. They are available at a discount for the sale day. They will likely be the two most expensive items on sale Monday.

The items are being sold by natural colored diamond specialist firm, Leibish & Co. on their website. They are as follows:

A 0.67-carat heart-shaped fancy deep blue diamond with a VS2 clarity (An Ocean Deep Blue diamond- similar to a Ceylon Sapphire) worth USD $266,200. On Monday, once 25 percent discount is applied, it will be offered for $255,552.00 when paid by wire.

A 2.04-carat pear-shaped orange pink colored diamond with a SI2 clarity worth $142,550 (top picture). After Cyber Monday discounts and be offered for $136,848 (in wire transfer). Natural pink diamonds are among the rarest in the world. More than 90 percent of pink diamonds come from one source, the Argyle Mine in Western Australia.

The sale of the diamonds will begin at 8 a.m. EST Monday and end 24 hours later.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term created in 2005 by Shop.org, an association of multichannel retailers. It occurs the Monday after Black Friday, when online retailers noticed an increase in sales. Shop.org said Sunday 122.9 million Americans plan to shop on Cyber Monday this year, up from the 106.9 million who shopped on Cyber Monday in 2010. ComScore, a firm that measures digital data, said 80 percent of retailers are having special online promotions that day. Last year sales exceeded $1 billion and it expects to see that figure shattered this year.

Holiday e-Commerce Spending Sets New Record

Retail e-commerce spending for the November–December 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, marking a 12-percent increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season, according to comScore Inc.

“The 2010 online holiday shopping season was a memorable one in which we saw spending rebound strongly from the recession of 2008 and 2009, and slightly exceed even our early expectations,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “We saw spending increase at a rate of 12 percent for the season, outpacing our forecasted 11-percent growth…. This year, retailers targeted many of their promotions even earlier than usual and reaped the benefits.”

For the first time since comScore began tracking e-commerce activity in 2001, Cyber Monday (Monday, Nov. 29) ranked as the heaviest online spending day of the year at $1.028 billion. Cyber Monday is a marketing promotion created in 2005 by Shop.org, a digital retail association. It is the first Monday after Thanksgiving. It also registers as the first online spending day on record to surpass the $1 billion spending threshold.

Green Monday (Monday, Dec. 13) ranked as the second heaviest day at $954 million. Green Monday is an online retail industry term created by eBay to describe the best sales day in December. ComScore defines it as the Monday with at least 10 days prior to Christmas.

Next largest spending day was Monday, December 6 at $943 million. Free Shipping Day (Friday, Dec. 17) ranked fourth at $942 million, while Thursday, December 16 rounded out the top five with $930 million. Eight days in total surpassed $900 million in spending this holiday

ComScore, Inc., Reston, Va., measures and analyzes digital data.

Cyber Monday Sales Surpass $1 Billion

Spending on Cyber Monday (November 29), the e-commerce equivalent of Black Friday, reached $1.028 billion, up 16 percent year-over-year, representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the first to surpass the billion-dollar threshold, according to comScore. For the November – December 2010 holiday season to date (November 1-29), $13.55 billion has been spent online, a 13-percent increase versus the corresponding days the prior year. The figures do not include spending on travel.

“The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the Reston, Va.-based company which measures digital data. “At the same time, it’s important to note that some of the early strength in consumer spending is almost certainly the result of retailers’ heavier-than-normal promotional and discounting activity at this early point in the season. So, while we anticipate that there will be more billion-dollar spending days ahead as we get deeper into the season, only time will tell if overall consumer online spending remains at the elevated levels we’ve seen thus far.”

Cyber Monday’s growth in sales was driven primarily by an increase in average spending per buyer (up 12 percent) while the number of buyers on Cyber Monday grew by a lower 4 percent to 9 million, the company said. The average spending per transaction grew 10 percent to $60.05, while the total number of transactions increased 6 percent to 17.1 million.

Nearly half of dollars spent online at U.S. Web sites originated from work computers (48.9 percent), representing a decline of 3.8 percentage points from last year. Buying from home comprised the majority of the remaining share (45.4 percent) while buying at U.S. Web sites from international locations accounted for 5.8 percent of sales.

“While online shopping from work originally occurred to take advantage of broadband speeds that people lacked at home, it was widely believed that this would decline markedly as home broadband connectivity increased,” Fulgoni said. The fact that spending from work remains so prevalent suggests other explanations. It is more likely that consumers continue to shop from work primarily because by doing so they are able to shop for holiday gifts while minimizing the risk that their children, spouses and significant others might see what Santa will bring .”

Cyber Monday is a marketing term created by Shop.org, an association of digital retailers, to encourage consumers to shop online. It is held on the first Monday following Black Friday.