Online retailing sees 18% growth in US

E-commerce just keeps growing in the United States. According to research from the Commerce Department, online retailing saw 18% growth in Q1, 2007.

by Kristina Knight

According to the report, the Internet accounted for more than $31 billion in sales in Q1; that is an 18% increase from the $26 billion brought in Q1, 2006. Total retail sales - both online and in brick-and-mortar stores - showed 3% year over year increase to $999 billion.

"In the past 12 months, online sales have totaled $119.4 billion, up 21.6% from $98.2 billion a year earlier," said Internet Retailer.

The online increase of 18% could be even larger however, because the Commerce Department did not account for Ebay sales in their findings. According to Internet Retailer, some analysts estimate that up to 60% of Ebay sales could be construed as retail sales, which would impact the online sales numbers even more.

According to the Commerce Department, online sales now account for about 3% of the total retail sales. Internet Retailer disagrees with that estimation, however, because the department's figures include potential offline sales such as heating fuel sales, restaurant purchases and convenience store buys that never actually occur. According to Internet Retailer, online purchases actually account for about 6% of total retail sales.