Online sales pass the $15bn mark in the US

Online retail sales overseas continue to show significant growth, according to the latest figures released by the US Department of Commerce.

Statistics published on Friday by the federal agency indicate that e-tail sales reached $15.7bn in the US during the second quarter of 2004, a 23 per cent increase over the same period last year. Ecommerce made up approximately 1.7 per cent of the nation's $919bn in total retail sales, which rose nearly 8 per cent from a year ago.

On a quarterly basis, e-tail sales increased nearly 1 per cent, from $15.5bn in the first quarter of 2004.

The online retail market has been delivering solid gains for well more than a year. Last year was the most successful period yet for the sector. Revenue for e-tailers reached $93bn in 2003, a 27 per cent increase over 2002.

Some industry watchers have predicted that e-tail sales will continue to spike upward until 2010. Forrester Research recently estimated that online sales will more than double over the next six years, growing from $144bn in 2004 to $316bn in 2010.

Among the factors Forrester cited as contributing to the expansion of the online retail market were greater numbers of individual US households adopting online shopping habits, continued retailer innovations and ecommerce site improvements.

Another harbinger of potential growth for the e-tail segment is the sheer number of domain names being registered online, possibly indicating that more businesses are choosing to open up shop on the web. According to internet domain registrar VeriSign, registration of .com and .net domain names has grown at least 20 per cent in the last year.

Matt Hines writes for CNET News.com