The Blizzard Cripples Stores But Boosts Online Shopping to a Record

Last weekend's East Coast blizzard caused many last-minute shoppers to stay home, pushing the final week of online holiday sales to a new record of $4.8 billion. That's an 11% increase over 2008, according to new data released by ComScore. The 2009 season -- Nov. 1 to Dec. 20 -- saw overall online sales of $25.5 billion, a 4% gain over last year. Tuesday, Dec. 15, set a single-day record, with $913 million in sales. When the blizzard hit on the final weekend before Christmas, online sales jumped 13%.