U.S. retail sales over the Internet rose 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2004 and gained 23.1 percent compared with the same period last year as consumers continued to turn to e-commerce to make purchases, a government report showed on Friday.
Purchases over the Internet, e-mail or other electronic networks, referred to as e-commerce, increased to $15.654 billion between April and June from $15.515 billion in the previous three months, the Commerce Department said.
The report is not seasonally adjusted, so comparisons are distorted by variations like the traditional dip in sales following the Christmas holiday season. But Commerce said it would begin publishing estimates of seasonally adjusted e-commerce sales from the third quarter.
E-commerce accounted for 1.7 percent of all retail sales, down slightly from the 1.9 percent in the first quarter. Sales over the Internet have gradually increased from 0.7 percent of total sales since the government began publishing data in 1999.
All retail sales advanced 10.1 percent to $919.041 billion in the second quarter from a revised $834.716 billion in the first three months of 2004. This was initially reported at $834.829 billion.
E-commerce sales include goods and services negotiated via the Internet but exclude online travel services, ticket sales, and services of financial brokers and dealers.