You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief when comScore’s press release hit the wires proclaiming “E-Commerce Spending Jumps 15 Percent on Cyber Monday to $846 Million, the Second Heaviest Online Spending Day on Record.”

I think that’s pretty amazing considering the economic times we find ourselves in, times when people say “Flat is the new up.” And that 15% number is a nice counterpoint to earlier predictions of e-tail gloom (e.g. Consumers Aren’t Shopping Online, Either New York Times, November 11). 

When someone reports that “e-commerce spending growth slowed to 6 percent in the third quarter over the year before, down from 13 percent in the second quarter” it is important to remember they are talking about “growth rate.” Online spending has continued to grow, it is not declining. Yes, growth rates have “declined every month since April.” But even though September’s rate of 5 percent was “the lowest recorded by comScore since it started tracking e-commerce in 2001″ it was growth.

The outlook in the November 11 edition of Time was closer to the mark (Will Online Sales Brighten a Bleak Holiday Season?). Kristina Dell noted that “At the very least, the Internet should outdo the sidewalk in delivering sales growth.” Holiday forecasts by Bain & Co. and the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicted overall sales gains for November and December of between zero and 2.2%. By comparison, “online retail sales are expected to grow 12%, to $44 billion, according to Forrester Research.” We will see.

Whatever the final numbers turn out to be at the end of the year, I think at least three things will be clear:

  • Online sales are the one bright light in retailing;
  • Internet retail is continuing to grow despite the tough economic times; and
  • These are the toughest times the world has experienced since the Internet was invented.

Taken together, these three points should be a rallying cry to all of us working in this space. Now is the time to seek out efficiences, improve performance, and keep one bright light burning in this otherwise dark night of consumer spending.

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