Cyber Monday tops $1B mark

Total non-travel retail spending topped $1 billion on Nov. 29, a 16% gain over spending on the same day last year, according to comScore, a digital research firm. Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 29, U.S. consumers spent $13.6 billion on retail goods, up 13% over the year.

Gian Fulgoni, chairman at comScore, said the data shows that “Cyber Monday,” referring to the first Monday after Thanksgiving, has become an established force in retail. Nov. 29 represented “a historic day for e-commerce,” Fulgoni said.

But reporting on revenue masks the impact of discounts and coupons on retailers' bottom lines, Fulgoni added. “It's important to note that some of the early strength in consumer spending is almost certainly the result of retailers' heavier-than-normal promotional and discounting activity at this early point in the season,” he said.

The 16% increase in spending was caused largely by an increase in dollars spent on a per-buyer basis. While the number of online buyers grew only 4%, those consumers spent an average of $114.24 per person, a 12% increase from 2009.

About half of purchases made on Cyber Monday were completed from work computers. ComScore estimates that 48.9% of Cyber Monday spending was done from a work computer, while 45.4% was done from home computers.

ComScore is traded publicly (symbol: SCOR), and employed 926 people at the end of September.