E-commerce spending picks up speed

Updated

E-commerce sales for the holiday are doing so well that it is almost certain they will post a gain for the holiday season.

According to Comscore, the online research firm, "For the holiday season-to-date, $19.9 billion has been spent online, marking a 3% increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week saw above average online spending growth of 4% versus a year ago, as two individual days surpassed $800 million in spending, led by Thursday, Dec. 10, with $852 million."

Are the sales coming at the expense of "brick-and-mortar" stores, or are they really net sales that augment sales at retail locations? The trend is probably not good for conventional retailers.

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