U.S. retail e-commerce sales increased 27 percent to $13.3 billion in the third quarter versus the same period last year, according to the Department of Commerce's Census Bureau.
Total retail sales, including online, for the quarter rose 6.1 percent to $872.5 billion compared with that period of 2002.
Third-quarter 2003 e-commerce sales grew 6.6 percent from the second quarter. The census estimates claimed total retail sales in the third quarter were up 1.6 percent from the second quarter, suggesting that consumer spending was helping a gradual economic recovery.
E-commerce sales in the third quarter accounted for 1.5 percent of total retail sales, inching up from 1.3 percent in the same quarter last year. But e-commerce's share of total retail sales in the third quarter held steady with the second quarter, also 1.5 percent.
The e-commerce numbers, collected from retailer reports nationwide, were not adjusted for seasonal, holiday and trading-day differences. There are also various margins of error.
