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Online Holiday Spending Up A Quarter

Preliminary online holiday spending figures show that sales this year should be up about 25 percent from 2004. ComScore Networks reports that online retail spending reached $17 billion from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21, a 24 percent gain over last year, and should reach approximately $19 billion for the entire holiday season. The week ending Dec. 18 was one of the biggest of the year, up nearly 30 percent from the corresponding week in 2004. Interestingly, the transit worker strike in New York City aided online retail sales: online's share of total retail sales between Dec. 20 and Dec. 22 rose from 3.4 to 4.4 percent. Meanwhile, a study from Nielsen/NetRatings, Goldman Sachs and Harris Interactive finds that holiday spending has risen 25 percent this year from Oct. 29 to Dec. 16, reaching $25 billion.

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