Online Holiday Sales Peak in Afternoon, Sales up 19 Percent

Forty-one days into the holiday shopping season, which kicked off Nov. 1, online retailers registered $20.5 billion in sales, a 19 percent gain over the same period last year. E-commerce, according to comScore data, peaks in the 12:00 to 3:00 daypart each afternoon.

Monday, December 11, was the single-highest earning day so far, with a recorded $881 million in online sales, a 33 percent gain over the same day in 2006 with $660 million in sales. The second Monday in December was recently named “Green Monday” by eBay, for expectations it’s the heaviest online spending day of the season. Atlas Institute designates the time Cyber Monday. Last year Wednesday,December 13, brought in $666.9 million in online commerce.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, often referred to as Cyber Monday, raked in $730 million, and Black Friday saw $530 million in online sales. The Internet was open for business on Thanksgiving Day, and Internet users ordered $270 million in gifts and other goods online.

Lunchtime through the afternoon is the best time of day to reach online shoppers. Noon to 3 p.m. gets 26.9 percent share of dollar spending, while 9 a.m. to noon takes 25.7 percent share. Late afternoon, 3 to 6 p.m. gets 10.3 percent share of dollars, 9 p.m. to midnight gets 8.5 percent share. Pre-work hours, 6 to 9 a.m. clicks to 7.3 percent share in dollar spending. Overnight online sales comprise of 1.9 percent share between midnight and 3 a.m., and 0.7 percent share between 3 and 6 a.m.

Data are compiled through comScore’s panel of more than two million permission-based consumers globally. Both browsing and transactional behavior are observed through the panel. The holiday e-commerce spending data are based on U.S. consumer behavior.