Window shopping 1.0

Nearly $19 billion was spent online in the first 39 days (Nov. 1-Dec. 9) of the 2007 holiday season — an 18 percent gain versus the corresponding days last year, according to comScore's update of holiday season e-commerce spending, reports MarketingCharts.

Thursday, Dec. 6, accounted for $803 million in online sales, up 28 percent versus a year ago - and the heaviest online spending day in history, comScore said.

Moreover, the week ended Dec. 9 accounted for $4.6 billion, the heaviest spending week of the season and up 20 percent versus a year ago.

"Consumers seemingly restrained their early November holiday spending in the hopes of catching some attractive late-season deals, so we expect that the current week will outperform the past week as the heaviest of the season," said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.

Online Retail Spending Peaks Mid-Day

During this year's holiday season, online spending has peaked during the middle of the day, driven by the heavy influence of shopping from work, which has accounted for 45 percent of all e-commerce dollars spent this holiday season.

More than half of all online dollars were spent between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM, with the heaviest spending (26.9 percent) occurring during the 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM time segment.

Nearly 10 percent of online spending occurred from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, making them the peak individual hour segments during the day.

Weekly Online Holiday Retail Sales

Some additional findings for the week ended Dec. 9:

• Consumer electronics experienced a strong week of online sales, up 43 percent versus year ago, outpacing its 23 percent growth rate for the season to date.
• Event tickets also had a particularly strong week, gaining 70 percent versus the corresponding period last year.
• Apparel outperformed its season-to-date growth rate of 16 percent with a 22 percent gain during the most recent week.
• Toy sales grew just 3 percent during the past week, lowering overall growth for the season to date to 14 percent.