Did you know that in America, almost $1 in every $10 spent is now occurring online? This isn’t indicative of strong retail or economic recovery, but rather represents a macroeconomic situation, because in these times of high unemployment and with financial markets in turmoil, consumers are continuing the shift to online for the benefit of lower prices and convenience. This is giving ecommerce retailers a wider market share and has put online retail spending at $37.5bn for the second quarter of 2011, 14 percent higher than a year earlier.

The growth in online spending has been lead primarily by a 16 percent increase in the number of buyers, with 70 percent of Internet users making at least one online purchase in that quarter.

Top performing categories included consumer electronics, computer hardware and software and event tickets, with each category growing 15 percent from a year ago. And the top 25 online retailers accounted for 66.4 percent of dollars spent online. This was down from a year ago, but reflects the increase in small and mid sized retailers regaining lost market share.

Quite a week UK side then. London is getting back to normal and facing up to its now tarnished reputation, one year before the Olympics. For anyone who needs their faith restoring in young people, you might like to read this or this.