Online holiday sales hit the bull's-eye

Online sales appear on track to hit targets for the fourth quarter, according to data compiled by Comscore Networks for the week ending Dec. 23.

According to Comscore, which tracks e-tailing activity, online shoppers spent $9.6 billion, excluding travel and auction sales. That tally puts online sales slightly ahead or on track to hit Comscore's forecast of $10 billion to $10.25 billion.

Comscore said it expects the fourth-quarter online sales total to be about $10.5 billion, up 15 percent from a year ago--not bad considering retailing sales overall have been anemic because of the weak economy. --Larry Dignan, Special to ZDNet News