There was much speculation leading up to the 2012 holiday shopping season, as retailers were not sure how American consumers would spend during the last part of the year. This was due to a variety of factors, including the presidential election, fiscal cliff negotiations and the ongoing recovery of the economy. However, one thing's for sure when it comes to holiday shopping in 2012 – customers took to the internet in large numbers to purchase products for the gift-giving season.

Billions spent online in November, December
According to a recent report from comScore, throughout November and December, approximately $42.3 billion was spent on ecommerce purchases. This represents a 14 percent increase from last year's holiday shopping months. The study revealed there were several days of significant spending, including Cyber Monday, which brought in 1.4 billion worth of products and other items brought through the internet. This turned out to be the largest ever spending day for ecommerce. The second biggest day for web purchases was December 10, also known as Green Monday. More than 1.2 billion was bought online throughout the day, comScore found. However, the total amounts for ecommerce holiday shopping did not meet expectations, as analysts were anticipating slightly higher sales.

"The 2012 online holiday season was once again a very strong season with growth rates in the mid-teens as we reached record-setting spending levels," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "This year's growth rate is essentially on a par with last year's. But despite many positives for the online sector, this year's season did not quite perform up to our initial expectation for growth rates in excess of 16 percent as we fell a billion dollars short of our expected total of$43.4 billion."

Mobile played big role during holidays
One element that helped boost online holiday sales was mobile purchasing. A study by Adobe Systems revealed that on Cyber Monday, 22 percent of purchases were made through mobile devices, Internet Retailer reports. This was more than double the amount of mobile transactions that were completed at the same time last year. Additionally, Bizrate Insights and Forrester Research found that 25 percent of products bought on the internet during the Thanksgiving weekend were done through mobile devices.

Retail sales amounts in the United Kingdom have been fluctuating over the past few months, as businesses have been struggling to boost revenue and customer satisfaction. It seems as though online shopping significantly helped merchants in December, as a large amount of sales resulted from ecommerce.

Bloomberg reports that according to a recent survey by accounting firm BDO, December retail sales in the country rose by 1.9 percent from the previous month. This increase was largely due to consumers' online purchases, as that amount jumped by 30.9 percent. The BDO study stated that flexible delivery options offered by companies was the main driver for the significant boost in ecommerce retail sales.

These recent figures are certainly welcome news for U.K. retailers, as November's sales amounts neither increased or decreased after a month of stagnant activity. In a separate article, Bloomberg reports that in October, sales fell by 0.7 percent from the previous month, according to research from the Office of National Statistics. This did not meet the expected 0.4 increase that economists had predicted. 

There is a new purchasing trend that consumers are taking to when it comes to retail shopping – mobile commerce. This holiday season, customers used their smartphones and tablets to browse for and buy products, highlighting the growing importance of the channel.

A study by Payvia revealed that more than half of consumers surveyed (55 percent) stated they planned to purchase items from retailers in 2012 by using a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. When it comes to browsing merchants' websites on these gadgets, in 2011, only 18.1 percent of shoppers did so. This year, that figure is forecasted to climb to 28 percent. For the holiday season, Payvia' research expects that one in five purchases will be made through smartphones or tablets.

These numbers highlight the increasing use of mobile for retail shopping, meaning that businesses may want to incorporate the technology to accommodate device-carrying consumers. Payvia suggests that to see success from mobile, companies need to focus on promoting the option to customers. Additionally, providing fast and secure transactions will increase mobile purchasing.

There is no doubting the growing importance of websites for retailers. Whether merchants maintain a site on top of their in-store operations or if they prefer to operate solely online, having an internet platform significantly boost sales and customer retention.

So what can retailers do to bring in more traffic on their sites? Business 2 Community offers some suggestions, one of which is having industry-relevant content uploaded frequently. Including a calendar of upcoming sales and business events will keep potential shoppers informed of what companies are doing. In addition, the source recommends that retailers put existing customer testimonials online, as this will give target audiences an inside look on how merchants operate.

It's also essential that retailers ensure their websites process transactions quickly and securely, according to Computer Business Review. If online platforms are running slow, this can result in lost sales. Also, not having effective security measures in place may give customers the impression that their valuable financial data can be compromised. Therefore, having tools available to prevent web theft and dropped transactions can boost revenues.

This holiday season will be jolly not just for consumers, but for online retailers as well. Research has found that shoppers are increasingly went online to buy items and gifts, a purchasing trend expected to continue into next year.

According to a recent study by comScore, between November 1 and December 15, American consumers have spent approximately $35 billion online. Internet Retailer reports that this represents a 12.9 percent year-over-year increase, as shoppers purchased $31 billion worth of products during the same time last year. The research also looked at the week of December 10 to 16, and found that $7 billion was spent online, a 12 percent jump from the same time last year.

The official start to the holiday shopping season was successful for web retailers, as Cyber Monday brought in strong sales for businesses. The Wall Street Journal reports that consumers spent more than $1 billion throughout the day, making it the largest day ever for online retail sales.

Ecommerce continues to grow significantly, as shown in the most recent online retail sales totals for last week. This strong boost in spending follows this year's Cyber Monday, which turned out to be biggest day in history for internet shopping.

According to a study by comScore, between December 8-14, approximately $6.9 billion was spent online, representing an 11 percent increase from the same week last year. Four individual days in the workweek surpassed $1 billion in spending, highlighting the growing importance of ecommerce for retailers. The comScore report stated that for the first 44 days of the holiday shopping season, more than $33.8 billion has been purchased on the internet. This is a 13 percent jump from 2011, and analysts expect sales will keep growing.

"This past workweek saw four days surpass the billion dollar spending threshold during the heaviest five-day online shopping period on record," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "With this most recent week in the books, the peak spending period may now be in our rear-view-mirror – but the online holiday shopping season is not over yet."

ComScore revealed that for Cyber Monday, consumers spent approximately $1.4 billion online, making it the largest ecommerce day ever.

As consumers increasingly go online to search for and purchase items, retailers in the United Kingdom are taking note and are implementing ecommerce options for customers. Internet shopping is at the top of businesses' lists for the coming year, as they look to capitalize on sales opportunities and increase patron satisfaction.

Econsultancy reports that a study by SLI Systems revealed that 60 percent of retailers are concerned with boosting online sales conversions, and 55 percent want to drive more traffic to their sites. To help achieve these ecommerce goals in 2013, 22 percent of merchants will focus on improving their site search functionality, while 15 percent will work on making mobile commerce options more secure and accessible. Fourteen percent plan to update or change their current ecommerce platforms in the hope of driving web retail sales.

The importance of online sales is not lost on UK retailers, as a research from the Office for National Statistics found that ecommerce has jumped by 40 percent year-over-year. Out-Law.com reports that in 2011, web purchases brought in £21.4 billion ($34.7 billion) for businesses. Just one year before, that amount stood at £15.2 billion ($24.7 billion).

Online shopping provides a variety of benefits for consumers, such as greater convenience and faster transaction times. However, web customers sometimes need to return the products they purchased, and they are looking for easy and free return shipping options from retailers.

According to a recently released study by ShopRunner, 81 percent of internet consumers stated they are likely to avoid purchasing items from businesses in the future if these web merchants do not offer free return shipping. When it comes to ecommerce returns overall, 69 percent of respondents believe that the process is extremely complicated. With the holiday season upon us, retailers could potentially lose out on customers if they fail to offer free or simple return policies.

Other shopping trends becoming popular this season are mobile applications being used for browsing and purchasing products, which is also leading to an increase in mobile devices used by both customers and retailers in stores, writes Forbes. Retailers are developing mobile initiatives aimed at attracting consumers to company websites as well as brick-and-mortar locations.

Although Black Friday and Cyber Monday have turned out to be the biggest days for online shopping, today, which is known as Green Monday, may give these previous days a run for their money. Coined in 2007, Green Monday is the second Monday in December and has been one of the top day for ecommerce purchases from retailers over the past few years.

Although Green Monday certainly doesn't receive as much attention as other shopping days, both from consumers and retailers, this year it is expected that online retail sales will reach more than $1 billion throughout the day, according to TIME magazine. Last year, more than $1.13 billion was spent through the internet on Green Monday. For 2012, Adobe Digital Marketing estimates a 7 percent increase from 2011's amounts. It is also anticipated that Green Monday will garner more attention in the coming years, as consumers take the internet to purchase items and gifts for the approaching holidays.

Daily Deal Media reports shoppers won't be using just their computers to buy retail products during the day. Smartphones and tablets may turn out to be the preferred devices for purchasing, as consumers are able to browse and buy goods from companies through the technology. Retailers are also stepping up their mobile efforts, writes the news source, by offering optimized websites and deals for device-using customers.

Many analysts have predicted that this year's holiday internet retail sales will at least meet – if not surpass – the amount from last year. With the recovering economic conditions, it's certainly easy to believe that 2012 will be a better year for retailers in terms of online spending. Recent research has revealed that so far this season, consumer ecommerce purchases are up significantly from the same time in 2011, which could mean that overall holiday sales will beat expectations. However, these exact numbers are not yet known, and web retailers will not be able to compare the two seasons until the shopping frenzy is over.

Online holiday spending up significantly so far

According to a recently released report by comScore, more than $21.4 billion has been spent online during the first 32 days of the holiday shopping season. The largest contributor to this amount was Cyber Monday, which turned out to be the biggest internet shopping day in history, with $1.4 billion made in purchases.

Online retailers saw a 17 percent increase on this year's Cyber Monday when compared to the same time in 2011. However, that was not the most significant boost regarding the two shopping seasons. ComScore reported that Thanksgiving Day was the biggest jump, with a 32 percent jump in online retail sales from last year. This was followed by Black Friday, with a 28 percent boost in ecommerce spending. On the other hand, the study found that online purchases began to decrease slightly after Cyber Monday, but the research firm expects things will begin to pick back up soon.

"While Cyber Monday was a high point for holiday ecommerce 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. "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."

What are the overall expectations?

Online spending has been significant so far this year, and analysts predict that retail sales at brick-and-mortar locations will also bring in large revenues for businesses. Before the beginning of the holiday shopping season, Shop.org released a report estimating that retailers will see a 12 percent rise in purchases from last year's totals, representing approximately $96 billion. However, that amount could be surpassed if consumers continue to hit retail stores and websites.