Holiday shopping online rockets in U.S.
• The RawStory.com US consumers turned in record levels to the Internet for holiday
shopping this year, further boosting online sellers’ share of the huge
national retail pie.
Shopping via the Internet in the seven weeks before Christmas jumped 15 percent over a year earlier, according to market analysts ComScore.
That bests the estimated 3-4 percent growth of sales in brick-and-mortar stores and shopping centers.
More shopping takes place in physical stores, but the comparative pace of growth underscores the threat Internet sales pose.
Consumers polled by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) said that they were doing slightly more than one-third of their gift shopping online this year, and just under two-thirds in the stores.
“Holiday e-commerce spending has remained strong throughout the season, and we have now reached a record $35 billion… for the season-to-date,” ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement Wednesday.
