E-retail puts together back-to-back double-digit growth quarters
Internet Retailer: The double-digit growth in e-commerce in the fourth quarter was no fluke: The U.S. Commerce Department reported today that e-commerce sales grew 14.3% in the first quarter, following the fourth’s quarter 14.6% gain. It was the first time since the first quarter of 2008 that e-commerce sales grew by more than 10% year over year for two quarters in a row.
The Commerce Department figures also show the continuing shift of retail sales to the web. While e-commerce grew 14.3% compared to the first quarter of 2009, after adjusting for seasonal variations, total retail sales grew only 6.3%. Sales at stores, excluding grocery stores, grew only 3.42%, meaning that e-retail grew at more than four times the rate of the stores that web retailers mainly compete against.
Put another way, 7.95% of Q1 retail sales took place online, not counting purchases of groceries, automobiles, fuel oil and restaurant meals that rarely take place on the web. That was up from 7.20% in the first quarter of 2009.
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