Online Desktop Sales Post 11 Days Over $1 Billion, a Record

December 6, 2016 by Douglas A. McIntyre

The picture is incomplete, because it only includes desktop e-commerce sales and not mobile. Still, the figure is impressive, and a record, as online desktop sales topped $1 billion for 11 days in a row.

According to research firm comScore:

… holiday season U.S. retail e-commerce spending from desktop computers for the first 34 days of the November-December 2016 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $38.0 billion has been spent online, marking a 12-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

Cyber Week, the week beginning with Cyber Monday, posted strong growth online, raking in $11.0 billion in desktop spending for an increase of 13 percent compared to the same week last year. This marked the first time ever that a full Monday through Sunday week boasted the accomplishment of having all seven days surpass a billion dollars in spending, while both Cyber Monday and the Tuesday following it eclipsed $2 billion in desktop sales. These seven days continued an even longer stretch beginning on Thanksgiving of eleven consecutive billion-dollar desktop spending days, marking the longest streak of days reaching that milestone in history. Also noteworthy is that sales growth has picked up significantly since Thanksgiving, with online spending on desktop up a strong 14-percent year-over-year, compared to an increase of 11 percent for the period of November that preceded Thanksgiving.

comScore did provide some mobile data, but it was incomplete compared to desktop numbers:

Recently compiled mobile commerce data for key shopping days highlights the channel’s increasing importance in driving digital commerce. Mobile buying on smartphones and tablets accounted for $597 million of spending on Thanksgiving (up 26 percent year-over-year), $797 million on Black Friday (up 41 percent) and more than $1 billion on Cyber Monday (up 29 percent). The success of mobile drove total digital spending growth to surpass 20 percent on all three days, while Cyber Monday 2016 solidified itself as the largest spending day on record with an astounding $3.7 billion in total digital commerce.

Looked at through either lens, e-commerce sales this year are healthy.

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