A record-breaking $43 billion was transacted online during the final quarter of last year in the US, new figures released by comScore have revealed.
The global analytics company revealed that this meant that e-commerce spending in the country was up by 11 per cent compared to the same period of 2009 and was the fifth consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth.
Among the best-performing products were computer software, consumer electronics, books and magazines computers/peripherals/PDAs and toys and hobbies, the firm revealed.
comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni explained that the impressive growth in e-commerce sales was a result of improving sentiment among consumers and strong discounting and promotional activity on the part of retailers.
"The 2010 holiday season saw the first billion-dollar day on record and several more surpassing $900 million to help propel Q4 to record spending levels," he added.
"We anticipate that the progress we've seen in the past year as we climbed out of the recession will continue with sustained double-digit growth rates in 2011."
Posted by Rachel Wheeler