comScore, a global leader in measuring the digital world, released the results of retail e-commerce spending this holiday season. For the first time ever, U.S. spending has surpassed the billion-dollar mark as Cyber Monday reached $1.028 billion, while total holiday spending is calculated to be around $13.5 billion -up 16 percent from last year.

"Cyber Monday was a historic day for e-commerce as we saw daily spending surpass $1 billion for the first time," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news. 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. So, while we anticipate that there will be more billion-dollar spending days ahead as we get deeper into the season, only time will tell if overall consumer online spending remains at the elevated levels we’ve seen thus far."

The number of buyers during Cyber Monday itself was actually 4 percent lower compared to last year. The major factor in the increase of e-commerce revenue is the augmented average spending per buyer which is up by 12 percent, and average spending per transaction which grew 10 percent. Moreover, the total number of transactions increased by 6 percent to 17.1 million. Paypal also experienced a 27 percent increase from last year. The report also says that nearly half of dollars spent came from work computers, (48.9 percent) while 45.4 percent came from home computers. Purchases from work computers are down by 3.8 percent from last year. The remaining 5.8% percent of purchases are from outside US.

"Since its inception, e-commerce activity has been driven heavily by people making online purchases while at work, an effect that is magnified on Cyber Monday as people return to their desks after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend," added Mr. Fulgoni. "While online shopping from work originally occurred to take advantage of broadband speeds that people lacked at home, it was widely believed that this would decline markedly as home broadband connectivity increased. The fact that spending from work remains so prevalent suggests other explanations. It is more likely that consumers continue to shop from work primarily because by doing so they are able to shop for holiday gifts while minimizing the risk that their children, spouses and significant others might see what Santa will bring."