A Record Cyber Monday

Online sales passed a milestone on Cyber Monday, asonline spending surpassed $1 billion in sales, according to ComScore.

However, the firm cautioned that the strong showing resulted from promotions and might not continue throughout the season.

“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.”

Revenue on Monday increased 16 percent over last year, when sales reached $887 million the same day. The number of buyers on Monday grew 4 percent to 9 million, while average spending per person increased 12 percent to $114.24. The average transaction was $60.05 and buyers made an average of 1.90 purchases each during the day.

While 3.8 percent fewer transactions occurred at work vs. last year, nonetheless the majority of purchases continue to be made at work (52.9 percent).