Online sales up 23.8% in Q1, Commerce Department reports

Online retail sales in the first quarter reached $19.2 billion, up 23.8% from Q1 a year ago, the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce reports. Total retail sales in the quarter reached $917 billion, up 6.3% from Q1 a year ago, the Census Bureau says.

The Census Bureau reports that e-commerce accounted for 2.3% of all retail sales in the quarter,

On a seasonally adjusted basis, e-commerce sales were $19.8 billion, the Census Bureau says. That takes into account seasonal variations and holiday and trading day differences, but not price differences, the bureau says. Under that scenario, online sales were up 23.8% from a year earlier but total retail sales were up 7.3%.