ComScore: Q1 online sales up 12% to $38 billion

Reston, Va. -- Online U.S. retail spending reached $38.0 billion for the first quarter, up 12% versus year ago, according to comScore. It marked the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.



“Faced with rapidly rising gas prices and stubbornly high unemployment, consumers continued to take advantage of the Internet’s lower prices by shifting their spending from offline retail stores,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “In fact, in the first quarter, the growth in e-commerce spending was roughly double that observed at offline retail.”



The top-performing online product categories were: video games, consoles & accessories; books & magazines; computers/peripherals/PDAs; consumer electronics; and computer software (excluding PC games). Each of the categories grew at least 13% in first quarter 2011 over a year ago.



According to comScore, the Top 25 online retailers accounted for 67.7% of dollars spent online, the same percentage as last year.