Monday, December 19, 2011

Holidays Looking Happy

As the Christmas shopping season chugs into the home stretch, it looks like it will be a merry one for the economy. Four separate days during the past week totaled $1 billion in online sales, according to the research firm ComScore. Overall, online shopping is up 15 percent over the same time frame in 2010, up to a whopping $30.9 billion, with a week still to go.

The re-branding of the Monday as Cyber Monday after Thanksgiving seems to have been a success. It was the single biggest online shopping day of this Christmas season so far, with total sales of $1.25 billion. Online shopping is expected to decline as we near Christmas Day, so Cyber Monday should retain that distinction.

It's too early to assess overall consumer spending for the holiday season, but the signs point to that being positive as well. With many retailers feel that their deep discounting will pay dividends, ShopperTrak is now estimating sales for November and December combined will be up 3.7 percent from the year earlier.

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