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The trend of buying more gifts on line during the holiday season continued in the US where sales between November 1st and December 27th have been estimated at $28 billion, excluding travel and the broadly named auctions.

This represents an increase of 19% over 2006, but interestingly was a slower rate rate of growth than the previous years 26%. It is pretty easy to figure that the credit crunch is having an overall negative effect on retail sales, but to blame the slower growth of Internet sales on the weather seems a little strange:

“Warm weather during the early part of November took its toll on online retail sales, and played a role in holding down the growth in spending over the entire holiday season,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

Maybe it is just me but I would have thought it would be the opposite - enjoy a day out on in the nice weather, come back home and hit the Internet for some bargains to round off a great day.

Via [BBC]