By Grant Shepherd

SYDNEY: According to recent figures released by comScore, retail e-commerce and online spending throughout November and December has increased 4 per cent year-on-year. The two strongest categories contributing to this were consumer electronics and computer hardware.

The results highlighted that US $15.3 billion has been spent online over the holiday season so far. According to comScore, the most recent week saw three individual days eclipse $800 million in spending.

Cyber Monday attracted spending of $887 million alone, which matches the heaviest online spending day on record. The following Tuesday nearly matched this figure with $886 million in spending and Thursday 3 December saw sales of $808 million.

Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, commented on the findings.

“Cyber Monday, which kicked off the most recent work week matching an all-time spending record with $887 million in spending, was followed by several other strong online spending days helping to accelerate the growth rate for the season-to-date to 4 percent,” said Fulgoni.

“Two categories that have been contributing strongly to this growth are consumer electronics and computer hardware, both achieving growth rates well into the double-digits so far, with e-readers, GPS devices, digital cameras, flat-panel TVs and laptops among the most popular sellers.”

Fulgoni emphasised that the growth of 4 per cent exceeded their own expectations.

“We have now passed the halfway point of the season with the 4 percent growth in online spending to date slightly exceeding comScore’s forecast of an overall 3 percent growth rate for the entire season,” said Fulgoni.

“It will be interesting to see if the encouraging growth continues as we head into the busiest days of the season. Nonetheless, I do expect that we will see the industry’s first $900 million online spending day during this next critical week of the season.”

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