E-commerce roars back

The days of gaudy million e-commerce spending are back, presenting the possibility that online sales have made a significant rebound from last year.

According to recent data from Comscore, "cyber-Monday" sales hit $887 million, up 5% compared to last year, and two days since then have posted sales above $800 million, the research firm reports. Comscore says the Nov. 30 sales matched "matching the heaviest online spending day on record." The notion of a record sales day in what was supposed to be a slow holiday spending season should offer the online retail industry substantial cheer. From Nov. 1 to Dec. 4, e-commerce sales rose 4% to $15.3 billion, and they've been rising even faster in recent days.