Online Holiday Sales Boosted By East Coast Snowstorms

It appears that the wintry mess that hit the Eastern seaboard over the past weekend turned out to be a boon to online retailers. comScore says that e-commerce holiday spending showed an uptick thanks to the blizzards that hit the East Coast over the past weekend. The final shopping weekend before Christmas saw a 13 percent growth rate in online spending from the previous year. And the full week posted a 6 percent yearly increase in spending, setting a one-week sales record with more than $4.8 billion in spending.

For the holiday season-to-date, $25.5 billion has been spent online, which is a 4 percent increase versus the same days last year. Online spending has remained steady this year, following strong Black Friday and Cyber Monday numbers. comScore reported that as of the week of Dec. 8, $16 billion had been spent online, which is a 3 percent increase versus the same period last year. Interestingly, comScore also took an in-depth look at the influence of social networks on online shopping and reported that 28 percent of shoppers surveyed said that social media has influenced their purchases.

Photo Credit/Flickr/Caitlyn Willows