Online retail continued its strong double digit sales growth through the holiday season with sales reaching a record $19.6 billion for the November 1 – December 31 period. According to comScore Networks, this is a 25% increase over sales in 2004. While this estimate shows strong growth, it may well be low, according to Visa. Visa recorded e-commerce purchases during the 2005 holiday season of $26.5 billion, equal to 10% of all spending on Visa cards during the last two months of the year. The Goldman, Sachs & Co., Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive fifth annual Holiday eSpending Report estimates that online holiday shopping is even higher, totaling $30.1 billion, a 30% increase over last year.

Unlike brick & mortar retailers, seasonal shopping patterns continue to move earlier according to Shopping.com. Increases in traffic began on November 14 this year compared to November 22 last year. At the same time, online retailers are seeing their season extend beyond Christmas and into the end of January due to gift card promotions and heavier price competition. For November and December, Shopping.com experienced close to a 30% increase in traffic, year over year. Additionally, this season has seen significant change in the types of products online consumers purchase. According to Shopping.com, while early adopter categories, such as consumer electronics, remain popular, more growth is now being seen in “taste-based” products that appeal to a more mainstream audience, such as home and garden; clothing and accessories; kids and family; and sporting goods and outdoors. For example, the most popular clothing and apparel item sold on shopping.com this year was the UGG Women's Classic Tall Boot and the best seller in the ‘Sport and Outdoor’ category was the Fitness Quest Eclipse 1100 HR Elliptical Trainer.

comScore Networks reported that online sales of Sports and Fitness products were the fastest growing category this holiday season, posting a 49% gain over the same period last year. Online sales of Event Tickets and Apparel & Accessories were not far behind, gaining 37% over last year’s holiday period.

Online sales are not exclusively increasing in upper-income brackets either. According to a ShopperScape survey, 79% of all consumers bought on-line this year, compared to 74% last year. While higher income customers are still more likely to shop on-line, the increase came from across all income brackets. 65% of “down market” consumers, defined as having an annual household income under $22,500, bought online vs. 59% a year earlier. Seventy-six percent of “middle market” consumers, defined as having an income of $22,501 to $75,000, bought on-line over the holidays vs. 72% a year earlier and 87% of “up market” consumers shopped on-line vs. 83% last year.