Online retail spending grew 19.3% in 2001, the Commerce Department reports

Confirming the earlier results by a gaggle of researchers, the U.S. Commerce Department today reported that online sales grew 13.1% in the fourth quarter from the fourth quarter a year earlier, reaching $10 billion. Total retail sales in the quarter grew 5.3% to $860.8 billion. Online sales in the fourth quarter accounted for 1.2% of all retail spending, up from 1.1% in Q4 2000.

The Commerce Department numbers are the most conservative of the spending numbers that various organizations have released, including comScore Networks Inc., which reported $10.8 billion; Forrester Research Inc., which reported $11.1 billion; and BizRate.com, $12.4 billion.

Total online retail sales for 2001 reached $32.6 billion, an increase of 19.3% from 2000, the Commerce Department said. Total retail sales in 2001 increased 3.3% from 2000. E-commerce sales in 2001 accounted for 1% of total sales, up from 0.9% in 2000.

Q4 online spending was up 34.4% from Q3, while total retail sales were up 9.5% from Q3.

The Commerce Department bases its numbers on a survey of 11,000 retail companies.

The Commerce Department also said it will revise its online spending numbers in May, based on a new survey.