Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

The final figures are starting to trickle in for the 2006 holiday E-Commerce season and one new report pegs the growth from last year at about 25 percent. The figures–released by ComScore–average out to a perfect 25 percent, with the full year’s E-Commerce sales increasing 24 percent (total of $102.1 billion) and the holiday season alone jumping 26 percent (to $24.6 billion). They pegged the top spending etailer days–in order–as Wed., Dec. 13, Mon., Dec. 11 and Mon., Dec. 4.

ComScore also said consumers are buying later than ever. ” The final three weeks of the holiday season (Weeks 7-9) saw a major surge in spending as the procrastinators came out in full force, driving a 31-percent increase versus the corresponding weeks in 2005. The week leading up to Christmas (week ending December 24, 2006) saw the biggest surge with a 45-percent increase versus the corresponding week a year ago, as consumers showed their faith in online retailers’ ability to ‘deliver the goods’ in time for Christmas,” the report said.

Like all surveys, it’s wise to not put too much reliance on the figures, as the methodology and accuracy is questionable. ComScore, for example, guesses at these numbers based on what it describes as a “global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing.” But given that these results are similar to other results, they are probably worth noting.