WebProNews

Ebates, a site that many big-name brands offer rebates and coupons through, released its online retail report for August, finding that online sales through the site grew 57% during the month, compared to the same time period a year ago.

The categories that showed the biggest growth were: department stores, baby % kids, books & magazines, apparel & shoes, and health & beauty. In fact, only one category covered by Ebates showed decline - home décor.

According to the report, overall sales grew, although average order sizes shrank among a number of categories, like business  & office supplies, department stores, and computers & electronics. Ebates attributes this to store discounting and smaller individual order sizes.

"The growth of savvy online shopping continues to counter the downward retail trend overall," said Kevin Johnson, CEO of Ebates. "As these numbers demonstrate, shoppers continue to spend in places that deliver high value for their money. As more and more people, including wealthy Americans, realize the benefits of cash back and coupons, our shopping activity continues to far outpace spending offline."

Ebates found that users were focused and buying what they needed without much shopping around. This is a noteworthy observation, considering the broad range of online stores available to consumers through the site.