ComScore: Q1 online sales up 12% to $38 billion

Reston, Va. -- Online U.S. retail spending reached $38.0 billion for the first quarter, up 12% versus year ago, according to comScore. It marked the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. “Faced with rapidly rising gas prices and stubbornly high unemployment, consumers continued to take advantage of the Internet’s lower prices by shifting their spending from offline retail stores,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “In fact, in the first quarter, the growth in e-commerce spending was roughly double that observed at offline retail.” The top-performing online product categories were: video