If the recent mixture of mixed signals about the economy hasn't confused you, here's another.
The U.S. Census Bureau released its preliminary estimates for 3Q 2009 online sales
by U.S. Retailers on November 18, 2009. This data series covers approximately half of online
B2C commerce in the U.S. as it excludes online B2C sales by
manufacturers, wholesalers, and services such as travel.The preliminary estimates show growth returning to
online sales (at least for Retailers) with a +1.8% year over year growth in 3Q. This growth is leading overall retail sales growth
which had a -7.5% year on year decrease in 3Q. As a result the share of Retailers’ sales coming from
the online channel is increasing – reaching a new high of 3.7% in 3Q09.
This could be a sign for positive 4Q and holidays sales growth - definitely a bit of positive news amid the high unemployment rate and number of foreclosures.
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