ComScore: Digital spending rises 18% in Q4

Digital shoppers across the United States outdid themselves in the fourth quarter.



Shoppers spent $109.3 billion online during fourth quarter 2016, according to comScore. Overall, this marked an 18% increase compared to the same quarter in 2015.



The majority of this online spending — $86.6 billion — occurred on desktop computers, a 13% increase compared to a year ago.



Meanwhile, m-commerce spending on smartphones and tablets contributed $22.7 billion, with a significantly higher year-over-year growth rate than desktop at 45%, illustrating that smartphones and tablets have become increasingly important to online buying with every succeeding year, the firm said.



Mobile accounted for 21% of total digital commerce dollars in Q4 2016, which is mobile's highest recorded share of online sales for a single quarter since comScore began measuring m-commerce in 2010. This mobile share of digital commerce dollars is a considerable jump from 17% a year ago, and from only 4% in Q4 2010.