• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, December 14, 2009

As e-tailers count down the hours to Dec. 17 -- a/k/a "Free Shipping Day" -- they're also counting up their sales results. And so far, it looks like 2009 may turn out to be a completely respectable year.

Performics, Publicis Groupe's performance marketing group, says that same store sales of its online retail search marketing campaigns show that the 11-day period, or "Cyber Stretch," around Black Friday and Cyber Monday proved more beneficial to advertisers than either day on its own. Better yet? The research shows "a return to 2007-like fourth-quarter sales and conversion rates among its retailers, with data trending positive for the remainder of the holiday season."

Performics says that year-over-growth was double-digit for every day in the 11-day period, with sales gaining 44% on Cyber Monday, 26% on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and 31% the day after Cyber Monday. Those numbers are somewhat more positive than other industry estimates; the National Retail Federation, for instance, has said it saw just an 8% gain in Cyber Monday traffic, as compared to last year.

"Marketers have better aligned their online and offline strategies and consumers are more actively shopping online over an extended period," Performics says in its report, adding that companies that advertised more aggressively outside the "stretch" period may also be contributing to the extended period of online shopping. Advertiser spending is up 5% in November, it adds.

ComScore reports that online retail spending for the first 41 days of the holiday season is $19.9 billion, a 3% increase from the same period last year. The Reston, Va.-based digital research company predicted that Dec. 14 -- a day insiders call Green Monday because it can be so lucrative -- is likely to be the biggest day so far, with sales surpassing the $900 million mark. So far, Dec. 9 and Cyber Monday are tied for the busiest days, at $887 million each.

Online retailers have wooed shoppers with plenty of free shipping offers this year -- some 79.4% are offering free shipping with some conditions -- but the clock is ticking. A new survey from Shop.org says many of the specials will evaporate on Dec. 18. Shop.org, the online branch of the National Retail Federation, conducted the survey with BIGResearch, and reports that nearly two-thirds of retailers' shipping deadlines for Christmas delivery will fall on or before Dec. 18.

With this week expected to include some of the busiest online shopping days of the year, some 18% of the sites say Dec. 18 will be the last day they offer free shipping. Of course, procrastinators will always have options, and be 54.2% of sites in the survey say they plan to offer overnight shipping options for Christmas delivery through Dec. 23.

And there's no doubt that consumers are hot to find these deals. Google reports that searches for "Free Shipping" are up 13% year over year for the month of December, searches for "Free Shipping Code" are up 35% and searches for "Free Shipping Coupon" are up 32%.