Internet sales growth lags previous years’

RESTON, Va. – Internet sales rose at their slowest pace on record this holiday season as consumers felt the crunch of high gasoline prices and defaulting mortgages, ComScore Inc. reported, according to Bloomberg News.
Online spending from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21 totalled $23.6 billion, ComScore found, an increase of 19 percent compared with the same period last year.
The lowest previous report from ComScore of year-over-year growth in Internet sales during the holiday season was 2002’s 20 percent.
The report comes as the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers reports that its Consumer Sentiment Index this month dropped to 75.5 points, its lowest level since October 2005.
Shares in retail trade companies have fallen this holiday season on news of lagging sales. Bloomberg News noted that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Retailing Index is down 10 percent since the start of November.