9% Rise in Online Retailing Since December 1, Jewelry Not Fairing Well

Two days with sales exceeding $800 million helped boost online retailing far above the levels of December 2007. Sport and Fitness was the biggest gainer in online sales, but jewelry and watches was one of the weakest, sliding 22 percent compared to 2007.

Between Cyber Monday, noted on December 1, and Friday December 5, U.S. sales totaled $3.74 billion, up 9 percent compared to last year, according to comScore.

However, last week’s good performance follows weak online sales in November. Together, holiday season sales through December 5 totaled $14.92 billion, practically unchanged from a year ago.

With expectations low, and moods even lower, the flat results are still good considering that online sales leaped in 2007, and that this year people have - at least in theory - less to spend.

Monday and Tuesday were especially good for online retailers in the U.S. On Monday, online spending stood at $846 million, and on Tuesday, $823 million.

Last week’s good fortune skipped jewelry and watch sites. Sales at theses businesses declined 22 percent, second worst only to the music, movies and video category that suffered from a 24 percent year-over-year fall.