The initial numbers for the holiday season are already coming in. Comscore reports a 19% increase in online revenue for the 2007 holiday season (November 1-December 27), to $28 billion. Spending for the peak holiday season (Black Friday – Christmas Eve) increased by 21% over the same period, although an extra day between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2007 skews the results slightly. In any event, with the economy being hit by changes in housing & energy costs, this late-season rebound is great, even though it raises questions about some of the early season promotions that were so highly publicized.

Comscore lists a 20.5% annual growth — to $123 billion for 2007, up from $102b in ’06. Their base numbers are a bit off from the Forrester/Shop.org report issued last May, which came up with 2006 online retail sales of $146 billion.

But let’s not quibble. After all, give or take twenty billion, it’s worth noting that both sources agreed on a projection of 19% online retail growth for 2007, so 20.5% is welcome news.

Congratulations to all who met or surpassed their online sales goals in 2007. From here, the prospects for 2008 look bright.