According to Bizrate.com an online comparison shopping site, monitoring continuously online sales from more than 3,000 online retailers in USA, the first quarter of 2003 produced sales of $12.84 billion dollars, a 27% increase over the same period in 2002 when $10.08 billion was spent.

This figures are encouraging as it proves that despite the war in Iraq, the sector has remained very active during this quarter.

The average jump in first quarter sales was driven mainly by the growth in orders and not by the amount spent.

The average purchase price was down 2%, from $127 in Q1 2002 to $124 in Q1 2003. Orders were up 30% from 79.4 million in Q1 2002 to 103.6 million in Q1 2003.

The top categories in terms of sales volume were:

- Computer hardware: $ 3.43 billion

- Electronics: $ 2.16 billion

- Entertainment: $ 1.88 billion

But the strongest growth in Q1 came from the following categories:

- Health and Beauty: 61%

- Entertainment: 58%

- Computer hardware: 41%

Source : BizRate.com