Online Retail and Luxury Goods Post February Sales Increase

eCommerce sales in the U.S. rose 16.7 percent, year-over-year, during the month of February, according to a new report by SpendingPulse. While internet sales may have benefited from severe snowstorms across the country, it was the seventh straight month of double-digit growth for the channel.

The luxury goods market, excluding jewelry, saw a sharp 15.2 percent rise last month over February of 2009. SpendingPulse tracks national retail and service sales based on sales activity in the MasterCard payment network.

“[eCommerce] continues to outperform traditional brick-and-mortar stores as consumers shift more of their purchasing online,” said Michael McNamara, vice president, Research and Analysis for SpendingPulse.

The average price of an online transaction dropped 3.7 percent compared to last year which, according to McNamara, was due to consumers’ increasing willingness to make small purchases online.

Consumer Electronics sales, which rose a modest 0.4 percent in January, was up by 5.8 percent year-over-year in February. U.S. apparel sales fell 1.8 percent during the month.