ComScore has just released their numbers for the first 50 days of the November-December 2009 holiday season. For the entire season-to-date, $25.5 billion has been spent online. That is a 4% increase over last year. The final shopping weekend of the season showed an astonishing 13% growth this year, due to many customers buying online in order to avoid the snowstorms. The last full week of holiday sales saw a year-over-year growth of 6% and total sales of $4.8 billion. That marks a record for one-week online sales. It has definitely been a good season for online retailers. These numbers show that an increasingly huge number of customers have decided that shopping online is a much better holiday option than braving the crowded malls.I wonder...with numbers like this, is it possible that we will one day see the end of crowded shopping malls and big-box retailers during the holiday season? If online retailers can continue to offer better deals with greater convenience, its hard to see why not.
