by Lance Whitney December 30, 2009

Holiday shoppers brought good cheer to e-commerce retailers, spending $27 billion online from November 1 through December 24, a 5 percent jump over last year, ComScore reported Wednesday. The period from Black Friday through Christmas Eve was also bright and merry as sales grew by around 3.5 percent, even after adjusting for an additional shopping day this year. consumer electronics proved to be the hottest selling category, rising 20 percent. Larger retailers outpaced smaller vendors thanks in part to their use of free shipping and marketing via social-networking sites, said ComScore. The growth in this year’s online holiday sales showed improvement over 2008, when sales dropped by 3 percent. Results were likely helped by a snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast the weekend of December 19-20, forcing many shoppers to pick up those last-minute gifts online.

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