(IDEX Online News) – U.S. retail e-commerce sales surged 13 percent year-over-year to $50.2 billion in the first quarter, marking the fourteenth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and tenth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, according to estimates from retail monitoring firm comScore.

 

It was also only the second quarter on record to surpass $50 billion in spending.

 

"While the year-over-year growth rate of 13 percent remained healthy, it was a point or two below that of the preceding quarters," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "One potential explanation for this mild deceleration is the payroll tax increase, which went into effect in 2013 and which removed some disposal income from Americans' wallets.

 

"That said, as long as job growth continues and consumer sentiment remains positive, the outlook for e-commerce in 2013 remains bright. However, one wild card is the possible enactment of legislation requiring state sales taxes to be collected on every e-commerce transaction - which would reduce the Internet's traditional price advantage and possibly dilute the channel's growth rate."

 

The top-performing online product category was Digital Content & Subscriptions. Jewelry was not in the top five categories.

 

Online sales accounted for 10.6 percent of discretionary dollars income, the highest share on record.

 

Apparel & Accessories was the highest grossing sales category in purchases made from smartphones and tablets, with nearly $1 billion in sales in the the first quarter.