Online shopping approaches $25B for this holiday season

Holiday e-commerce in early December sees a 15% increase over last year's spending

Holiday shopping online has shown the consumer appetite is not yet been satiated as the retail e-commerce spending for this season exceeds $24.6 billion, according to an announcement by comScore on Sunday.

The digital measuring company found that the first 39 days of seasonal shopping (ending Dec. 9) was a record spree for consumers and that the week ending Dec. 9 reached $5.9 billion -- a 15% increase from the year prior.

So far this winter, six individual days have broken the billion dollar threshold -- starting with Cyber Monday at $1.25 billion.

“As we enter what will be the heaviest week of the season for online retailers – beginning with ‘Green Monday’ on December 12 – all signs are now pointing to a strong finish to the season,” comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni, said in a statement. 

While most consumers have adopted the terms "Black Friday' and 'Cyber Monday into their lexicon, the lesser known “Green Monday” was coined by eBay in 2007 to label the Monday in mid-December, which often had the heaviest online spending -- just within the window where consumers can get packages delivered by Christmas. 

'Green Monday' has ranked among the top spending days of the season for the last six years and looks like it could break another record this year. In 2009, $854 million was spend on 'Green Monday' and last year $954 million was spent online -- all indications point to the fact that this 'Green Monday' will not only break the $1 billion threshold, but may rival 'Cyber Monday.'

As long as comScore has been tracking, seven shopping days have surpassed $1 billion in spending -- most of which were this year. Cyber Monday 2011 leads with $1.25 billion in sales and Dec. 5, 2011 now ranks as the second heaviest spending day in history at $1.18 billion.

Mobile and stronger advertising campaigns are partly to credit for all of the e-commerce boosts seen this year, especially since there are many price comparing applications that help consumers find the best deals for their dollars.

Amazon also upped the ante this past week by offering $5-$15 off purchases if consumers go to local shops and scan the barcodes of items they wanted to purchase and then buy them with the online giant. This was a controversial move for Amazon since many saw this as an unfairly waged war on local businesses that can't compete with big online companies. This option is also allowing Amazon to gather pricing data across the country by making its consumers do the price gathering.

There is still at least one more big shopping day left to watch for this season, after 'Green Monday,' which is 'Free Shipping Friday' (on Dec. 16) where many big online companies will offer free shipping and guarenteed Christmas delivery for purchases made on that day. It won't be out of the question to see holdiay spending online break $30 billion and set up online retailers for a big close out for the year.