Feds say Internet Sales Growing

The U.S. Department of Commerce reports e-retail sales of $5.5 billion in the second quarter of 2000, a 5.3% increase over the first three months of the year and a 6.2% increase since the fourth quarter of 1999, when it first started tracking retail e-commerce.

     The increase in e-retail sales was evident across most industries. The strongest growth was in autos, sporting goods, and apparel. This represents a solid platform for growing e-commerce activity over the next year, the DOC says.

     The IT sector represents only about 8% of the economy but has contributed more than 33% of real economic growth. The DOC plans to release other measures of the growing e-commerce sector early next year.