Online spending by consumers will surpass $19 billion this holiday season--up 24 percent from $15.8 billion last year at this time, according to a new forecast by comScore Networks. Total online
spending for the year will climb to $82.7 billion, also representing a 24 percent increase from 2004's $66.5 billion. Those figures exclude online travel purchases and auctions. Last week, research
company eMarketer predicted that sales for the entire fourth quarter would reach $26.2 billion, a 21 percent increase from last year's fourth quarter.