WebProNews

Sales volume and the number of transactions conducted at 10 of the largest U.S. online retail Web sites increased 29 percent during the 2007 holiday season according to the Chase Paymentech Pulse Index.

During a four day period in mid-December (Dec. 11-14) generated $598.1 million in online sales for merchants for a daily average of $149.5 million. This was the busiest sustained activity of the 2007 online holiday season, and it took place two weeks before Christmas Day.

The Index also revealed single-day highs of $168.9 million in sales and 3.05 million in transactions on December 18. The busiest online shopping day of the week was Wednesdays, with average daily sales of $103.7 million. The day that was the least busy was Sunday with average daily sales of $61.5 million.

"This was a particularly powerful year for eCommerce, especially given the difficult state of the rest of the retail economy and the U.S. economy in general," said Forrester Research principal analyst Sucharita Mulpuru.

"This points to the fact that eCommerce has not yet peaked. It is particularly interesting to note that the growth from 2005-06 was less than the growth from 2006-07. This means eCommerce growth during the holidays is actually accelerating in some sectors."