COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) released its forecast for the November-December holiday e-commerce spending. U.S. consumers have already spent $10.1 billion online during the first 18 days of the November-December holiday season, a 16 percent increase from the same period last year. According to comScore, November 8, has been the heaviest day of the season for online spending so far, as consumers spent $829 million online.
COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) is a global leader in digital business analytics. Online spending thus far has been pretty impressive, especially when the big spending days like Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday, and Black Friday are yet to arrive. For the entire holiday season, comScore forecasts online spending to hit $43.4 billion, up 17 percent from the same period a year ago. During the last year, online spending grew 15 percent on a yearly basis. The spending this year would also be higher than the retail industry’s expectation of a 4.1 percent increase in overall consumer spending this holiday season.
The 2012 holiday e-commerce spending has been encouraging with 16 percent growth so far, said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR)’s head thinks that the early retail promotions and a five-year high consumer confidence are the key drivers to the boost in online spending. This increase in online spending also shows that more and more consumers are shifting to online purchasing, as it offers convenience, attractive pricing, and product selection.
During the third quarter this year, online retail spending increased 15 percent to $41.9 billion. It was the twelfth consecutive quarterly growth in online spending. And mobile shopping is definitely going to see a boost.
The strength in holiday e-commerce spending so far, and a 32-day shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas has been the basis of a fairly optimistic forecast for 2012 online holiday shopping, said Fulgoni.
COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) also found that now 37 percent of U.S. consumers use smartphones when in a brick-and-mortar retail store to compare prices or purchase products online. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is using every trick to get users to purchase online, even when they are in a retail store. Let’s see how it translates into sales this season.
