Record ecommerce sales number reached

That brings the total holiday spend, so far, to nearly $25 billion, a 4% increase over 2008 numbers. There have also now been nine individual shopping days which surpassed the $800 million mark.

"Going into this most recent week, we had anticipated that Monday or Tuesday would post the highest online spending total of the season and perhaps be the first day on record to surpass $900 million," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Despite a disappointing start to the week, with sales on Monday of $854 million down 1 percent versus 2008, we were encouraged to see spending continue strongly throughout the balance of the work week, led by Tuesday's record $913 million. In fact, each day through Thursday December 17 - the last day that many online retailers would guarantee free shipping in time for Christmas - saw at least $800 million in spending, which suggests that savvy consumers may have been waiting for those last-minute deals."

Although these numbers are great, it is likely that spending will decrease dramatically this week as consumers only have three shopping days until Christmas Eve and most online hubs cannot guarantee delivery by Christmas Day at this point.

One interesting note about the 2009 holiday spend: Cyber Monday moved up in the ranks of highest shopping days. In years past Cyber Monday - the Monday after Thanksgiving - ranked in the ninth or tenth position but because of the shopping turnout, Cyber Monday moved into the second slot, behind only Green Tuesday, December 15, as the highest spending day.

All except one of the top ten spending days topped $800 million, with only December 2 falling below the $800 million mark; Wednesday, December 2 saw consumers spend $797 million in a single day.

Tags: 2009 holiday, comScore, ecommerce, holiday shoppers, holiday spend, online shopping