E-tailers enjoy a jolly Christmas season

US e-tailers enjoyed higher than expected sales this Christmas with online revenue topping $13.8bn - 15 per cent up on last year.

The results - published today in the "eSpending" report published by Harris Interactive, Goldman Sachs and Nielsen/NetRatings, dispel pre-Christmas fears that threats of a recession and further terrorist attacks could dampen the seasonal shopping spirit.

But the eSpending findings - some of the first post Christmas e-tail results to be published - show that Americans actually spent more than anticipated, with one in five of them buying at least one gift online in the eight weeks up to Christmas.

Earlier forecasts from Forrester Research and Jupiter MMXI had put US online Christmas sales at $11bn and $11.9bn respectively, but Forrester reduced that forecast to $8bn just days before Christmas.

Although concrete figures for European sales have yet to be released, Jupiter MMXI predicted that online Christmas sales will have increased by 70 per cent on last year - jumping from E1.6bn (£988m) revenue in 2000 to E2.9bn (£1.7bn) in 2001.

Patricia Lueer, an analyst at Jupiter, said that initial figures show European e-tailers are on target to meet those predictions.

However, she warned that despite the seasonal peak in revenue, e-tailers could not afford to be complacent in the coming year.

"You can't just say 'oh we survived that Christmas' and sit back. Ecommerce is a growing market. You can lower prices and offer discounts, but you're just buying market share, and you're ruining margins. Sites should continue to build on their customer relationships throughout the year," she said.

One of the top performing UK sites was HMV.co.uk, according to internet monitoring group Keynote Systems.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas the site had one of the quickest download times, beating competitors such as Amazon.co.uk by over seven seconds during the heaviest shopping days.

A spokesman for HMV said: "Christmas went well and we exceeded our targets. Sales on the website were consistent in strength with our high street sales."