Google contributed 80 billion to US economy in 2011

Google’s VP of Americas Sales Margo Georgiadis has authored a post on the company’s official blogthat reinforces the idea that the Internet is where business is done and jobs are created. To back up this claim, Google provided $80 billion of economic activity directly to advertisers, website publishers and nonprofit organizations across the US last year.

The post highlights the fact that 97 percent of Americans use Internet search to find local goods and services both on computers and mobile devices. And while some believe that technology is driving people to shop online rather than locally, this isn’t always the case.

Boston Consulting Group shows that US citizens who researched products online in 2011 actually spent about $2,000 to buy those goods in-store rather than online. Google says that’s nearly $500 billion in revenue that was spent on local retail.

Georgiadis cites multiple examples of how Google and the Internet is helping several businesses expand. New England baking company King Authur Flour recently took to the web and has since become an internationally-renowned business. Bornstein Sons, a home maintenance and repair contracting business based in New Jersey, now receives 25 percent of new customers from the web. Oriental Trading Company now sells four out of five of their products online.

The search giant is facing pressure from the US government for allegedly abusing their position in search and advertising. Mountain View reportedly holds an estimated 65 percent market share.

Online holiday retail spending breaks multiple sales records

Online shopping is on the rebound in a big way versus the same time last year. For the first 48 days of e-commerce shopping from November through the week ending December 18, consumers spent nearly $32 billion, a 15 percent increase over the corresponding days last year according to the latest report from ComScore.

The most recent week ending on the 18th saw four individual days with online sales exceeding $1 billion. Said week totaled $6.3 billion in spending, setting a new all-time record and representing a 14 percent increase over the same time period last year. For the holiday season to date, 10 individual days have surpassed the $1 billion mark.

On an individual basis, Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw the largest year-to-year gains. Consumers spent $816 million online this year, a 26 percent increase over the $648 million spent in 2010. Cyber Monday improved 22 percent, from $1.02 billion to $1.25 billion, becoming the heaviest online shopping day in history.

With less than a week of shopping time left before Christmas and only another week left in the month, ComScore expects to see another $5 to $6 billion in e-commerce spending by year’s end. Those who have put off shopping thus far still have a few days left to place orders, as many outlets offer guaranteed holiday delivery if you order up to and including the day before Christmas Eve. Extreme last-minute shoppers will probably flock to brick and mortar stores to avoid further wait times imposed by shipping.