Recent up-and-down activities on the global stock markets may not be indicative enough of economic recovery, but what about e-commerce trends? Following Q3 2009's numbers, here’re some latest statistics from the Department of Commerce. The Census Bureau has published the Q4 2009 quarterly report for online sales by U.S. Retailers, representing up to half of U.S. e-commerce. The rest are online sales that include services such as travel, and wholesalers and manufacturers selling direct to consumers.
The preliminary estimates show a strong re-bound in online
sales by U.S. retailers in the last quarter of 2009. Year-on-year growth
was 14.4%. This growth rate is similar to levels last seen in Q4 2007
prior to the start of the recession. While the higher growth rate
can be partially attributed to the comparison with a weak 4Q 2008, the last quarter of 2009
did set a new online sales record, estimated at
$35.85 billion and comprised 3.8% of total U.S. retail sales. The strong
Q4 performance turned a flat to negative growth year for 2009 online retail
sales into a positive 1.7% growth.
While the US economic engine is
far from full recovery, this is one positive sign.
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