ecommerce reported to be up.
U.S. online retail sales rose in third quarter
Friday November 22, 10:13 AM EST
WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Sales at U.S. online retailers rose in the third quarter of 2002 and posted their best year-over-year performance since the first quarter of 2001, the government said on Friday.
In its quarterly report on e-commerce trends, the Commerce Department said online sales increased by 7.8 percent to $11.06 billion from the previous quarter. Compared with the third quarter of 2001, sales jumped a hefty 34.3 percent, their largest year-over-year gain since the first three months of 2001, when sales rose 42.0 percent.
Unlike most economic indicators released by Commerce, the data are not adjusted for seasonal or holiday-related variations, a problem that limits its usefulness. Commerce has only been separately tracking e-commerce sales since late 1999.
The share of overall retail sales over the Internet remained small, at 1.3 percent in the third quarter, up from the second quarter's 1.2 percent. That share is likely to increase, however, if online sales continue to grow at a faster pace than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. In contrast with the 7.8 percent jump in e-commerce sales in the third quarter, traditional retail sales rose only 0.3 percent.
The Commerce report is based on a survey of about 11,000 retailers. It does not, however, cover some common services available online, such as airline and concert ticket purchases or online brokerage activities. The Commerce Department defines e-commerce as sales of goods and services over the Internet or other electronic network or by e-mail. Payment does not have to be made online.
©2002 Reuters Limited.
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