• December 24, 2008

For the holiday season through Dec. 21, $24.71 billion has been spent online, down 1% year-over-year, according to comScore.

Online spending over the most recent weekend--Dec. 20-21, 2008--totaled $677 million, which is down 17% when compared to the corresponding fourth weekend after Thanksgiving last year--Dec. 16-17, 2007.

However, when a comparison is made to the weekend nearest Christmas last year--Dec. 22-23, 2007--spending this past weekend is seen to be nearly twice as high.

"Because of the way the shopping days fall this year with five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is no perfect adjusted-day comparison to make at this point in the season," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

"However, online spending over the most recent weekend was clearly substantially heavier than the corresponding weekend nearest Christmas last year, which suggests that many consumers opted for the cozier confines of online shopping rather than having to brave the severe cold and snowstorms affecting much of the northern half of the country."--Gavin O'Malley