U.S. Consumers Spend $27 Billion Online in Lead-Up to the Holidays

According to comScore, the first 37 days of the holiday shopping season have garnered $27 billion in e-commerce revenue.

The mark represents a 13 percent increase from this time last year. According to comScore, the biggest shopping day so far was Cyber Monday. The company’s study found that Cyber Monday 2012 resulted in over $1.4 billion in sales.

In 2012, Cyber Monday sales increased by 17 percent year-to-year. Last holiday season, Cyber Monday saw a little over $1.2 billion.

This year, holiday shopping started earlier than usual. According to comScore, online shopping on Thanksgiving jumped over 32 percent. 2012 saw online shopping on Thanksgiving Day pass the $1 billion mark.

The study found a slight slowdown in sales growth for the first week of December. E-commerce sales failed to reach the double-digit growth mark from December 1 through 7.

“Despite posting three consecutive billion-dollar spending days and five in excess of $950 million, this past week saw a noticeable softening in e-commerce momentum as growth rates dipped into single-digits after beginning the season in the mid-teens,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.

“However, we expect this lull to be a temporary effect having more to do with the extended shopping calendar this year with two additional shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, rather than weakening consumer fundamentals. This upcoming week led by Green Monday is likely to be the heaviest online spending week in history with a realistic chance of delivering five billion-dollar days.”

Fulgoni and comScore are banking on “Green Monday” to break the holiday shopping lull. Green Monday is traditionally the second Monday of December and comes at least 10 days away from Christmas.

While Cyber Monday is usually thought of as the busiest online shopping day of the year, it has only just recently overtaken Green Monday for the crown. Up until 2008, Green Monday outpaced Cyber Monday to rank as the first or second busiest online shopping day of the year.

It wasn’t until 2010 that Cyber Monday took on the mantle of busiest online shopping day. For the last two years, the Monday after Thanksgiving has ranked number one in the online shopping world.

“Green Monday got its moniker several years ago because of the widely held misconception at the time that Cyber Monday was the heaviest online shopping day of the season, when in reality it was lucky to crack the top ten. Green Monday came to refer to that Monday near mid-December when online spending actually tended to peak as consumers hurried to finish their online shopping in time for shipments to arrive before Christmas,” continued Fulgoni.

“While we still see that steady build in spending continuing into mid-December, Cyber Monday’s intense promotional activity has vaulted it into the top spot in recent years while Green Monday has had to settle for a spot in the top three. Still, it should be a very active online shopping day that will post a strong total when all is said and done.”