Cyber Monday defies the downturn

Spending on Cyber Monday reached an estimated $846m

Online retailers were greeted with a much-needed flood of business earlier this week, according to the latest figures.

Data from research firm comScore suggests that 1 December, or Cyber Monday, was the second busiest online shopping day in history.

ComScore said that spending on Monday was up some 15 per cent on last year, reaching an estimated $846m (£582m).

The first Monday after Thanksgiving is generally considered the start of the online holiday shopping season in the US, and serves as a counterpart to the Black Friday rush seen by many bricks-and-mortar retailers.

The jump in Cyber Monday sales comes despite a sagging global economy which has hit many sectors of the technology world. IT and internet service companies have seen slowing business and layoffs as the stock and credit markets continue to falter.

Prior to the Monday jump, online retail had been suffering. Pre-Thanksgiving revenues were down four per cent compared to 2007, and sales from 1 November to 1 December were down two per cent.

Late November figures, however, leave retailers with some room for optimism. The 15 per cent jump on Monday came on the heels of a 19 per cent gain over last year in post-Thanksgiving weekend sales.

The later surge in sales is leaving analysts hopeful that the online retail market will be able to weather the storm this holiday season.

"Consumers are clearly responding positively to aggressive online discounts, " said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "This is extremely encouraging for retailers and we can but hope that their aggressive discounting has still left room for profits."