It was a strong weekend for online shopping, according to Verizon Enterprise Solutions' third annual Holiday Retail Index. Today's report -'Weekends can make it or break it for retailers.' – shows ecommerce traffic increases in both daily and peak volumes on Saturday and Sunday, and is now available in Verizon's Media Center. The Holiday Retail Index by Verizon provides key insights into consumer ecommerce traffic during the holiday shopping season based on traffic across Verizon's broadband networks to the top 25 U.S.-based online retailers.

"This healthy spike in weekend traffic demonstrates the importance of getting promotions right when consumers are focused on ticking items off their holiday shopping lists," said Michele Dupré, group vice president of retail, distribution and hospitality with Verizon Enterprise Solutions. "With special offers now a holiday season norm, the challenge is in spreading promotions out to keep consumers interested and coming back. It's early in the season – with Christmas and Hanukkah three weeks out - and plenty of selling still to be done."

The Verizon Retail Index tracks ecommerce traffic across Verizon's broadband networks to the top 25 U.S.-based online retailers as identified by eMarketer based on annual revenue. The Index monitors network traffic throughout the holiday shopping season, including during signature events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

The next edition of the 2016 Verizon Retail Index will capture digital shopping activity from Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 10-11) and will be released on Monday, December 12 by 1pm Eastern time. Findings from the Index are released throughout the season with an emphasis on key dates which historically have motivated consumers to shop. The complete list of report publication dates includes:

• Monday, November 21 – Initial report capturing data from the preceding weekend which found a 15 percent year-over-year increase on Sunday (Nov. 20);

• Friday, November 25 – Thanksgiving report which demonstrated a 10 percent year-over-year increase;

• Saturday, November 26 – Black Friday report which highlighted a nine percent year-over-year increase;

• Monday, November 28 – Thanksgiving weekend report which found a 15 percent year-over-year increase on Sunday

• Tuesday, November 29 – Cyber Monday report which identified a 2 percent decrease from the previous year;

• Monday, December 5 – First week of December report which revealed higher than average activity over the weekend;

• Monday, December 12 – Second week of December report;

• Monday, December 19 – Third week of December report;

• Friday, December 23 – The week before Christmas report, including final shipping deadlines;

• Tuesday, December 27 – Super Saturday and Christmas Day report;

• Tuesday, January 3, 2017 – Post New Year's weekend report; and

• Thursday, January 5, 2017 – Wrap-up report.