Weekend Surge Sent Online Holiday Spending North of $55 Billion, Says Report

Holiday season online sales to date climbed 13 percent for the first 48 days of the holiday season vs. the year-ago period, said a Tuesday comScore report. U.S. e-commerce sales via PC totaled $55.2 billion, with the latest week -- Dec. 12-18 -- posting 15 percent growth to $7.6 billion vs. the 2015 period, comScore said. Free Shipping Day (Dec. 16) had $967 million in desktop spending, up 14 percent over 2015, closing out a streak of 22 consecutive days of billion-dollar online PC sales and 30 days overall since Nov. 1, it said. ComScore CEO Gian Fulgoni cited a “notable weekend surge” as consumers rushed to get orders in in time for shipping by Christmas. While the heaviest spending is over, comScore expects another $7 billion-$8 billion to be spent online over the rest of the year.