Lady LUX

The figures are in: Cyber Monday has generated around $1 billion in sales, making it the biggest online spending day in history, said ComScore – a shopping trend which may or may not continue.

“The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news,” ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni told WWD. “At the same time, 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.”

Last year’s Monday’s total was $887 million – working out to a 16 percent increase from 2009 to 2010. The number of shoppers also grew 4 percent, reaching 9 million, while the average spending per customer totaled out to an impressive $114.24.

Although big-name sites such as Amazon.com, Target and Toys ‘R’ Us drew online crowds, private sales sites also did well. Shoppers generally made 1.9 purchases.

According to analysts and retail executives, robust e-sales over the Thanksgiving weekend reflect the overall shift to shopping on the Web rather than trekking down the streets. In fact, more than one third of shoppers made the decision to buy online between Thursday and Monday, the National Retail Federation said.

“Retailers clearly chose to take advantage of selling on their Web stores when most stores in the nation were shut,” Fiona Dias, executive vice president of strategy and marketing for GSI Commere, which presides over more than 100 e-commerce sites, told WWD.

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