Holiday online sales up 25%
According to this WSJ story (subscription required), holiday online shopping between November 1 and December 26, increased 25% to $23.2B from a year earlier (and excluded travel sales such as airline tickets).
One possible sign that consumers are more comfortable shopping on the Internet is that sales of jewelry on the Web more than doubled to $1.89 billion from $888 million last year. Jewelry can be a big-ticket item and is one that consumers often want to see in person before purchasing.
Jewelry was the biggest percentage gainer year over year, according to the survey. Jewelry's online sales growth was also likely helped by the sale of clothing over the Internet, Ms. Dougherty said.
Online shoppers spent the most on apparel during the holiday season, with the category accounting for 16% of total online revenue during the period. Consumers shelled out $3.76 billion for clothing, compared with $3.73 billion last year [followed by toys/video games, and consumer electronics].