E-Commerce Spending Up for 2007 Holiday and Year

Online retail was up 24 percent for the full year of 2006. Data released by comScore Networks details spending for the full year and holiday season.

Sales at e-commerce sites in 2006 reached $102.1 billion, a 24 percent increase over 2005 sales. The previous year’s sales totaled $82.3 billion; 2006 was the first year figures exceeded $100 billion.

E-commerce growth was spurred by holiday season sales. The holiday shopping season, November 1 through December 31, brought in $24.6 billion, up 26 percent from $19.6 billion in 2005. Each of six days in November and December topped $600 million in sales. The highest-earning day of the holiday season occurred on Wednesday, December 13 with a total $666.9 million. The mid-month peak marked the transition from standard to expedited shipping of online shoppers.

Several e-commerce benchmarks were achieved throughout the season. The week before Thanksgiving, sales were 30 percent over the corresponding week in 2005. Weeks four through six of the season were measured at 26 percent over the same period the previous year. Online sales in the final three weeks of the season were 31 percent over the year before, and Christmas week (the week ending December 24, 2006) was 45 percent over the same period in 2005.

ComScore measures Web traffic and behaviors from a global cross-section of over 2 million consumers who have given the research firm permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior.