eCommerce beats retail

The sales data on retail e-commerce growth was released recently by the US Department of Commerce. The report claims that online sales went up by only 13.4% during the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same sample period the year before.

"This shows that the economic slowdown is having more of an effect than people suspected," said Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst at eMarketer. "It's accelerating existing trends."

The e-commerce is still developing faster than the retail. The reason for that was marked as that customers who prefer shopping on-line now make even more purchases at e-commerce websites. Such growth is not attributed to new e-commerce clients.

"Some people may shift their spending online to save on gas and because they think they can get a better deal," Mr. Grau said.