The silver lining shows up anyway, with good Cyber Monday news

Online metrics company comScore has released its updated set of holiday e-commercial sales figures, showing an increase in Cyber Monday spending over last year, with a notable lift in Consumer Electronics sales.

The recession has had a marked effect on consumer spending, with the average price of individual gifts dropping by some 5%. This caused an overall slowdown which some predicted would mean this year's total holiday sales would actually be less than last year's. However, comScore data showed that the "Cyber Monday" spike in online sales was 9% higher this year, bringing total 2008 holiday sales to just about the same level as 2007.

Black Friday saw $534 million in online sales, while Cyber Monday saw $846 million.

Sites participating in Nielsen's Holiday eShopping Index saw a 13% increase in traffic over Black Friday, with 35.9 million unique hits, and ChannelAdvisor announced a 15% jump on Cyber Monday to $18 million in sales.

Though the Consumer Electronics Association predicts that spending on consumer technology will stagnate in the fourth quarter, comScore data found that CDE sales on Cyber Monday were actually 24% higher this year than last. Retailer Best Buy's sites saw the largest year-over-year growth (131%) in unique visitors on December first, followed by Hewlett-Packard (94%). Since December 1, Apple Inc. has had a 29% increase in unique visits over last year, while Dell has had a decrease of 17%.