• by Shankar Gupta , November 24, 2006

Online spending in the first three weeks of November is up 23% over the same period last year, according to a new report by comScore Networks.

comScore found that non-travel online spending from Nov. 1 to Nov. 19 reached $6.35 billion, up from $5.18 billion in 2005. The research firm also reaffirmed its prediction that online holiday spending from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 will top $24 billion, marking a 24% increase over the 2005 holiday season. comScore expects Thanksgiving weekend to show a similar increase, with spending hitting $1.1 billion from Thursday to Sunday--up from $924 million over the same period last year.

This month, spending spiked on Nov. 14, with online merchants taking in $475 million. comScore predicted that sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving will climb to $600 million--higher than any single day during the 2005 holiday shopping season, and 24% higher than the 2005 level of $484 million.

Other recent reports also point to a big holiday season for e-retailers. AOL and Zogby released a poll Tuesday, reporting that more than 80 percent of 37,000 U.S. adults surveyed said they would either maintain or increase the amount of spending they did online over last year.