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Holiday Online Spending So Far Surpasses Total for All of 2006

Nearly $25 billion has been spent online during the holiday season to date - surpassing the total spending that occurred for the entire 2006 holiday season, according to comScore’s update of holiday season e-commerce spending for the first 48 days (Nov. 1 - Dec. 18) of the holiday season.

The most recent two days of sales reporting, Monday, Dec. 17 (up 33% to $700 million) and Tuesday, Dec. 18 (up 25% to $670 million), showed strong growth versus last year.

Together, the two days’ spending was 29% more than the corresponding days’ last year.

“Monday and Tuesday of this final week of pre-Christmas shopping saw strong growth in spending versus year ago, pushing the season-to-date growth rate slightly above 19%,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.

Weekly online holiday retail sales, according to comScore, for week ended Dec. 16:

“While it is now safe to say that the heaviest online spending days of the season are behind us, we believe we may continue to see strong growth rates during the remainder of the season due to the late-season shipping deals being offered by some retailers, and consumers’ ability to buy online and pick-up their purchase the same day at the retail store,” Fulgoni said.

“It’s also clear that many consumers are willing to delay their holiday shopping later in the season this year in an effort to take advantage of any late season price discounts being offered by retailers.”