Online was the place to buy for mom this year, according to stats released today by VeriSign
The Mother’s Day stats were compiled for the period of April 25 through
May 8 from Verisign Payment Services, which represents over 135,000 etailers handling 37 percent of all North American e-commerce.
The $4.4 billion racked up this year by online shoppers is a
24 percent increase over the same period last year. Fuelling the dollars spent was a 31 percent increase in the total number of
transactions, up to 54.8 million this year.
Monday May 2 was the peak day for online
shopping during VeriSign’s reported Mother’s Day period, as $473 million
worth from 5.43 million transactions were reported.
VeriSign said that online jewelry purchases increased by 79 percent, with diamond sales increasing by 101 percent over 2004. There were 540 percent more diamond transactions this year than last and the average spent was $517.
“Mother’s Day has arrived as one of our larger retail holidays,” said
Trevor Healy, vice president of VeriSign Payment Services, in a statement.
“Where once this holiday would have been acknowledged with a phone call and
a heartfelt card, we’re increasingly seeing people using it as an
opportunity to send expensive items.”