comScore reports that Cyber Monday sales jumped 17% to $1.465B; digital content & subscriptions score big gains

The digital business analytics company comScore today released their estimates on Cyber Monday sales, stating that sales on November 26th will hit $1.465 billion, an increase of 17 percent.

"Despite some news reports suggesting that Cyber Monday might be declining in importance, the day has once again set an online spending record at nearly $1.5 billion," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "However, it is also clear that the holiday promotional period has begun even earlier this year, with strong online sales occurring on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Now, we shall see the extent to which continuing and attractive retailer promotions are able to boost sales for the remainder of the week."

While consumer electronics sales grew a very healthy 24 percent, according to conScore, the big winner were those selling digital content and subscriptions – this category grew by 28 percent, according to comScore.

"The term ‘Cyber Monday’ was coined by Shop.org in 2005 to refer to the significant jump in e-commerce spending that occurred following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as consumers got back to sitting in front of computer screens at work," explained Fulgoni.

"At the time and for several years afterward, Cyber Monday was often misconstrued as the heaviest online spending day of the year, when in fact it barely cracked the top ten days of the season. However, with the passage of time, the day grew in importance as a result of an increasing number of retailers offering very attractive deals on the day and extensive digital media coverage making sure that consumers were aware of them. As a result, Cyber Monday has assumed the mantle of top online spending day for the past two years – a trend we expect to hold once again in 2012," Fulgoni is quoted in the comScore announcement of their findings.