Social networks and blogs had strong effect on this year's holiday shopping

[mandy]

New e-commerce trends have shaped this holiday season, including the increasing importance of social networks, blogs and user content, booming sales of luxury items, an extended shopping period and the emergence of niche sellers.

By all accounts, sales growth has been strong. Excluding travel and auctions, consumers spent $21.7 billion at U.S. online stores between Nov. 1 and Dec. 20, a 26% increase over the same period last year, according to comScore Networks Inc.

Even more significant, the spending increase between Dec. 18 and Dec. 20 was 35%, reversing a trend from past years when sales slowed down as Christmas Day approached. The change this year is due to retailers' improved ability to ship items on time later in the season and to consumers' willingness to pay extra for this convenience, according to comScore...

full article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9006759