Online retail sales broke records as successful Internet retailers were laughing all the way to the bank. According to a study by comScore, online retail spending rose to $12.5 billion for the holidays. Up 29.5 percent from the $9.7 billion logged by comScore from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2002, the numbers don�t include online travel and auction purchases.

“We’ve closed another great year in online commerce,” said Dan Hess, senior vice president of comScore Networks. “Consumers spent an average of $200 million per day throughout November and December, bringing holiday growth to just about the top end of our forecast of 25 to 30 percent.”

The holiday capped another great year for online retail, which comScore said would jump 22 percent to $52 billion compared to $43 billion in 2002.

According to shopping search engine Shopping.com, home and garden items jumped to the top of the online sales list. Some may be surprised that such items beat out electronics this year as the number one online seller- perhaps proving that online shopping has become accepted and common for many Americans.

Clothing and accessories, which ranked No. 4 among online items in 2002, edged up to third spot in 2003. Computers ranked at #4.

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