Nothing but up
Fourth quarter online
retail sales reached $17.2 billion, 25.1% over fourth quarter 2002, the
Commerce Department reported last month. The Q4 numbers brought full-year
online retail sales to $54.9 billion, up 26.2% from $43.5 billion in 2002.
Total retail sales last year were up 5.5% to $3.42
trillion from $3.24 trillion the year before, the Commerce Department
reported. For the year, online retail sales accounted for 1.6% of all
retail sales as measured by the Commerce Department vs. 1.4% in 2002.
The percentage of online sales was even higher in Q4,
when they accounted for 1.09% of all sales.
The Commerce Department bases its numbers, net of
returns, on a survey of 11,000 retailers nationwide.
