According to a recent report by Comscore Networks, Europeans spent more online in the 2006 holiday season than their US counterparts. The Germans spent over 5 billion euros, the Brits 4 billion and the French almost 2 billion euros.  Spending in the US was around 18.8 billion euros which is more than all of them put together, but if you look at per capita spending the numbers are slightly different. The Germans lead the pack with an average of 106.69 euros per person; the Brits spent 106.38 euros per person;  the Americans spent 90.75 euros and the French spent 64.36 euros per person.

So what does this all mean to US retailers? For starters, any assumption that online spending in this country has reached critical mass is just plain wrong. There is still a long way to go just to catch up to our European counterparts in terms of internet spending. And a lot of money still to be made online. It also tells me that there are markets in Europe that US retailers should and could be reaching. I would suggest that the best way to do that is with viral marketing and the use of video.