Everything Finance

ComScore reported on Sunday that online spending remained strong in early December. Usually early December indicates a quiet period in the U.S. holiday shopping. This year seems to be an exception.

Consumers spent $5.9 billion online during the first week in December. It is 15 percent more than last year. Earlier in the holiday season, Cyber Monday brought in a record of $1.2 billion spent online. Black Friday also had very strong sales this year.

There were some concerns that strong sales in the beginning of the holiday season might weaken sales in the early December. So far the concerns were unfounded and the slowdown in online sales has not happened. Instead, the latest data indicates that holiday shopping period might end strongly.

This coming week is usually the heaviest for online retailers. In fact, in 2007 the eBay created the term Green Monday to describe the Monday of the second week of December. This day tends to be among the busiest online shopping days. In the past six years, Green Monday was ranked among the top spending days of the holiday season.

Free Shipping Day is gaining more importance as well. This is a day when thousands of online merchants offer free shipping on the day that provides enough time for purchases to be delivered in time for Christmas Eve. This year Free Shipping Day is on December 16, 2011.

About Aloysa

Aloysa is the owner and creator of My Broken Coin where she blogs about personal finance, budgeting and setting up goals, saving and spending, handling debt and having fun along the way. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and two pets.