Billion Dollar Hot Streak: Strong Week for Online Retail Spending Headlined by First-Ever Week Featuring Five Billion Dollar Weekdays

Billion Dollar Hot Streak: Strong Week for Online Retail Spending Headlined by First-Ever Week Featuring Five Billion Dollar Weekdays Ten $1 Billion Dollar Online Spending Days During Holiday Season-to-Date with Cyber Monday Still Ranking as #1 Day

Strong Weekends Helping Online Spending Exceed Expectations

RESTON, VA, December 18, 2013 - comScore (NASDAQ : SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season U.S. retail e-commerce spending from desktop computers for the first 45 days of the November-December 2013 holiday season, showing that $37.8 billion has been spent online. For the first time ever, the most recent workweek saw five individual days eclipse $1 billion in spending, led by Green Monday with $1.4 billion. The week before (December 2-6) fell short of that accomplishment when Friday, December 6 missed the $1 billion milestone by just $16 million. Overall there have been ten individual $1 billion days this season, and the most recent week (December 9-15) reached nearly $7.7 billion in desktop spending. Total spending since Thanksgiving has been $19.2 billion, up a healthy 21-percent vs. the same period following Thanksgiving last year.

2013 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2012

Non-Travel (Retail) E-Commerce Spending

Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases

Total U.S. - Home & Work Desktop Computers

Source: comScore, Inc.

Millions ($)

2012 2013 Percent Change

Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28) $633 $766 21%

Black Friday (Nov. 29) $1,042 $1,199 15%

Cyber Monday (Dec. 2) $1,465 $1,735 18%

Green Monday (Dec. 9) $1,275 $1,401 10%

Thanksgiving thru Most Recent Week $15,934 $19,220 21%

Weekend Online Spending Growth Driving Strong Gains Since Thanksgiving

One of the emerging storylines from the 2013 holiday season is the growth of online retail spending during the weekends. Historically, the work week tends to be when the heaviest online spending happens, in part because people are in front of computer screens for longer periods of time, while the weekends tend to be stronger for brick-and-mortar retail and lighter for online buying. This year, however, exceptionally strong year-over-year growth rates of at least 30 percent have been seen on each weekend since Thanksgiving, while gains on the weekdays have been between 10-16 percent.

2013 Holiday Season Week/Weekend Breakout vs. Corresponding Periods in 2012

Non-Travel (Retail) E-Commerce Spending

Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases

Total U.S. - Home & Work Desktop Computers

Source: comScore, Inc.

Millions ($)

2012 2013 Percent Change

Thanksgiving Week Mon-Fri (Nov. 25-29) $3,591 $4,012 12%

Thanksgiving Weekend (Nov. 30-Dec. 1) $1,188 $1,594 34%

Cyber Week Mon-Fri (Dec. 2-6) $5,462 $6,315 16%

Cyber Weekend (Dec. 7-8) $975 $1,663 71%

Most Recent Week Mon-Fri (Dec. 9-13) $5,466 $6,038 10%

Most Recent Weekend (Dec. 14-15) $1,168 $1,647 41%

Total: 3 Weeks Mon-Fri $14,519 $16,365 13%

Total: 3 Weekends $3,331 $4,904 47%

*Corresponding days based on Week of Thanksgiving and two weeks following (Nov. 25 - Dec. 15, 2013 vs. Nov. 19 - Dec. 9, 2012)

One of the most interesting stories we are seeing this holiday season is the explosion in weekend online spending, said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. While we have seen solid growth during the days between Monday and Friday, weekend growth rates have surged to nearly 4x what we're seeing during the work weeks.

Added Fulgoni, There are a few likely explanations for the robust weekend shopping we're seeing. The first is that with six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, consumers who are pressured to get their shopping done in less time are simply increasing their offline shopping on the weekends. Another explanation is that because of the shortened season frenzy, perhaps some consumers are opting to shop from home and avoid the long store lines. Finally, with so many consumers now adept at using their mobile devices to showroom', a higher number than in previous years may be touching and feeling' products in-store before completing their transactions online.

LINK:	http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2013/12/Billion_Dollar...
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