Call it the pregame show for Santa and his elves.
Monday was expected to be the busiest day in FedEx history, with nearly 16 million packages moving on its conveyer belts, trucks and planes. That's up 13 percent from the busiest day last year and double what the company handles on a normal day. That jump in shipments bodes well for the nation's retailers, online stores and larger rival UPS, which has its single busiest day next week.
About half of the increase is from FedEx's SmartPost partnership with the U.S. Postal Service. SmartPost moves lighter, cheaper packages through FedEx that are then delivered by a postal worker.
Online holiday spending since Nov. 1 is up 12 percent over last year to nearly $22 billion, according to research company comScore. It said Dec. 6 and 8 ranked in the top five days for online spending ever.
Consumers are using smartphones and other mobile devices, as well as computers, to buy and ship. Online auction and shopping website eBay said Monday that Sunday was its busiest mobile shopping day so far this year. In the U.S., shoppers bought $5 million worth of items on eBay, more than double on the same Sunday last year. EBay expects mobile users to buy $1.5 billion worth of good this year compared with $600 million last year.
Online orders overall are likely to spike again this Friday, which many merchants are promoting as "Free Shipping Day."
Online spending increases come with modestly brighter prospects for holiday spending in general. Retail experts predict total spending will increase by 2 percent to 4 percent over last year.
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