Commerce Department Reports Rise In Online Retail

  • November 21, 2004
United States consumers purchased $17.6 billion worth of products online in the third quarter of 2004, according to a preliminary report released on Friday by the U.S. Department of Commerce. This seasonally adjusted statistic--$16.5 billion, unadjusted--represents an increase of 4.7 percent from the second quarter of 2004, and 21.5 percent over the same period last year.

E-commerce accounted for 1.9 percent of total retail sales--estimated at $916.5 billion, according to the department. The Commerce Department gathers data from about 11,000 retail companies for its estimates. The data doesn't include online travel services, financial brokers and dealers, or ticket sales agencies.

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