Overall eCommerce sales were healthy last quarter, even with speculation of a slowing economy, according to the US Department of Commerce. In the fourth quarter of last year, the total estimate of eCommerce sales in the US was $36.2 billion, up about 4.6 percent from the previous quarter. Even better, 2007 fourth quarter sales went up about 18 percent from 2006 fourth quarter sales. For the year, 2007 saw $136.4 billion dollars in total sales in eCommerce trading, an increase of 19 percent from the previous year. However, eCommerce sales only made up a small percentage of total retail sales, about 3.4 percent--an increase of .5 percent from 2006.
It remains to be seen how sales for this quarter will turn out, but last quarter benefited from the usual hustle and bustle of the Christmas shopping season. What does seem likely, however, is that eCommerce sales may remain steady this quarter with the higher cost of fuel and the added benefit for the consumer to use the Internet to make more informed purchasing decisions.
Posted
Mar 19 2008, 02:30 PM
by
Richly Chheuy