U.S. e-commerce sales rose in 4th quarter of '05

U.S. retail sales over the Internet and other electronic networks rose a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent in the final quarter of last year, a slower growth rate than the third quarter and the same period a year ago, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Purchases over the Internet, by e-mail or through other electronic networks rose to a seasonally adjusted $22.94 billion in the October-December period.

The quarter-on-quarter growth rate was lower than the revised 5.2 growth rate in the third quarter. Fourth quarter e-commerce sales rose 23.0 percent over year-ago levels, but this was a slower pace than the third quarter's 26.0 year-on-year growth rate.

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E-commerce sales accounted for 2.4 percent of total sales, exceeding the previous record of 2.3 percent set in the third quarter. Total retail sales rose 0.3 percent during the fourth quarter versus the third quarter to $960.291 billion. They were up 6.0 percent over year-ago levels.

Online shopping has grown steadily in popularity in the United States in recent years, with retailers offering Internet-only deals and shipping discounts and with consumers coming to trust the Internet for protecting financial information such as credit card account numbers.

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The government's e-commerce sales data include goods and services negotiated via the Internet but exclude online travel services, ticket sales and the services of financial brokers and dealers.

The United States began first publishing data on e-commerce transactions in 1999.

The government collects sales data from about 11,000 retail firms out of what it estimates to be over 2 million such companies.