Online retail sales climb in November

Reston, Va. Visitors to retail e-commerce sites increased significantly in November from a month earlier as the holiday shopping season got under way, according to comScore.

Online spending also increased 10% to nearly $12.3 billion in November from a year earlier, when sales were very weak because of the recession, according to the research firm. Online spending on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season, rose 11% from a year earlier, and Cyber Monday sales grew 5%. More than 50% of online purchases on Cyber Monday were made from work computers.

Visits to department-store sites, as well as sites selling toys and consumer electronics, grew more than 30% in November from October. Online department stores visitors climbed 33% to nearly 81 million. Consumer electronics sites attracted 52.8 million visitors, a 32% increase, while toys sites attracted 27.4 million Americans, up 33%.

Wal-Mart Stores led the department-store category with 46.2 million visitors, up 62%; followed by Target Corp., with 38.8 million, up 43%. Best Buy Co. led the consumer electronics category, with nearly 25 million, and Wal-Mart's electronics site more than doubled to 9.9 million visitors.

Toys “R” Us sites led the toys category with more than 14.8 million visitors, up 82%, the fourth fastest-growing site in November.