Online Retail Spending Continues to Rise

(IDEX Online News) – More American's are turning to online buying, leading to a 15 percent rise in online purchases in the first 48 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season.

Consumers have spent nearly $32 billion in the period, according to comScore.

During the week ending December 18, sales reached an all-time record of $6.3 billion in online retail spending, up 14 percent from the corresponding week last year. On four different days, sales exceeded $1 billion.

The final shopping weekend before Christmas reached $1.04 billion to rank as the second heaviest weekend of online spending on record.

"We will see another $5 or $6 billion in e-commerce spending over the remainder of December to finish off what has clearly been an outstanding season for online retailers,” predicts comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

U.S. jewelers are reporting improved sales for all jewelry categories. Many specialty jewelers stated double-digit sales increases compared to the 2010 season.