Holiday spend up 14% YoY

Much of the spend, comScore researchers believe, is due to both an increase in the number of people shopping online and the per-shopper spend for each session. More than 128 million US adults have made a purchase online, with the average buy hitting $165.90.

"While Cyber Monday was a high point for holiday e-commerce spending and Cyber Week saw several strong spending days, there was a clear softening in the growth rate during the back half of the week," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "It is likely that, to some extent, holiday spending was pulled forward to the Thanksgiving-Black Friday period given the heightened promotional activity around that time. And some of the softening is a natural post-Cyber Monday lull that we often experience, an effect that may be somewhat more pronounced this year given the additional shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, as the urgency to finish one's holiday shopping increases we expect to see growth rates pick up again in the next couple of weeks before Christmas."

Meanwhile, it isn't just Americans who are looking online for shopping relief - Swedish merchants are seeing an uptick in online shoppers. While many Swedes have shown reluctance to embrace holiday online shopping, a new report from Poston 60% of Swedish retailers saw ecommerce increases during Q3.

About 90% of Swedish consumers are online, but nearly one-third say they've never made an ecommerce purchase.

Tags: 2012 holiday shopping, comScore, ecommerce trends, Poston