Mar 2, 2010

The web took a larger share of retail sales as e-commerce picked up in the 4th quarterBy InternetRetailer.com

In a down year for the U.S. economy, online retailers took market share from offline retailers, according to the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Online retail sales in the fourth quarter grew 14.4% on an adjusted basis over the fourth quarter of 2008, reaching $35.9 billion, the Department of Commerce reported. For the year, e-commerce sales increased 2.0% to $134.9 billion.

While this was far from the double-digit growth that online retailers have come to expect, it represented a major shift from offline to online buying.

Total retail sales in the fourth quarter rose just 2.1% to $942.4 billion, while total retail sales for the year declined 7%, the Commerce Department says. The shift to online accelerated in the fourth quarter: The difference in growth between online and offline was 12.3 percentage points for the fourth quarter and 9 percentage points for the year.

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