Phil Windley is reporting on his Technometria blog from this week's Internet Retailing conference in Chicago. His first post on the conference reviewed the keynote address by Mike Boylston from JC Penney. His second post reviews the talk by Robert Antall, CEO, Lake West Group, on the new level of competitiveness in e-retailing. Digital Transactions is also reporting from the conference.

MODASolutions has announced that TigerDirect, a retailer of computer hardware and components, is now accepting its SECURE-eBill payment option that allows customers to pay for purchases from their existing online bank accounts.

comScore Networks has announced that "consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. sites during 2006, including the holiday season (November 1, 2006 - December 31, 2006). For the full year 2006, online retail spending reached $102.1 billion, marking a 24-percent increase versus 2005. Online holiday e-commerce accounted for $24.6 billion, up 26 percent versus last year."

comScore Networks has released its estimates of consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. sites for the 2006 holiday season through Tuesday, December 26. According to comScore, "during the first 56 days of the holiday season, total online retail spending reached $23.11 billion, marking a 26-percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005. Sales during the week prior to Christmas (December 18 - December 22, 2006) rose 38 percent versus the corresponding week in 2005. Importantly, year-to-date non-travel e-commerce spending surpassed the $100 billion mark for the first time ever on Saturday, December 23, 2006."

Over the last few days, the blogosphere has been chatting about PayPal's Virtual Debit Card offering - as PayPal reports that its current beta test of the new service has been opened up to more users. First offered to beta users last June, the Virtual Debit Card allows PayPal members who are Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer users to make purchases at non-PayPal accepting merchants through the use of a MasterCard number generated automatically by PayPal on the user's behalf. The PayPal Virtual Debit Card cannot be linked to a non-PayPal-issued credit card. Instead, there must be funds in the user's PayPal account or the user has to have provided PayPal with bank account information or signed up for either PayPal Buyer Credit or the PayPal Plus Credit Card. More details on PayPal's FAQ page for beta users and in this BetaNews story on VDC.

James K. Glassman, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, looks at the growth in online retailing and ecommerce - including some results from a survey he helped PayPal conduct earlier this year. "Online sales remain small in relation to total consumer purchases--only about two or three percentage points--but they are gaining tremendous speed while bricks-and-mortar retailers are laboring hard just to run in place."

comScore Networks has released its estimates of consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. sites for the 2006 holiday season through December 15. During the first 45 days of the holiday season, total online retail spending reached $19.48 billion, marking a 25-percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005.

Unisys has announced the results of a new survey concluding that "a majority of U.S. consumers fear their personal information and security will be compromised while shopping online or using online banking services this holiday season, resulting in the potential loss of significant revenue for banking and retail institutions." According to the study, concerns about bank card fraud and identity theft are so high among consumers that nearly one in every two consumers polled has ceased using online personal banking services, as well as telephone and Internet-based shopping, if the transaction requires a credit card number

Despite the proliferation of high speed Internet among U.S. homes, most eCommerce shopping happens during work hours, according to CyberSource.

Bill Me Later sends along the following news about some interesting holiday shopping trends they've noticed this season.

On the Hitwise blog, LeeAnn Prescott of Hitwise posts some interesting numbers about traffic to the Toys R Us website vs. competitors. Two weeks ago, she reports that the Toys R Us site was the leading source of traffic to Google Checkout.

The Conference Board and TNS have announced results from the latest edition of The Barometer - finding that consumers are willing to spend more for the holidays, but only if retailers offer free shipping and exclusive
online incentives, They also report that the most frustrating aspects of shopping online for consumers are shipping charges, not being able to physically handle merchandise, and having to give out credit card information.

VeriSign has announced a suite of new Digital Brand and Fraud Protection services designed to "help organizations detect, prioritize and rapidly respond to suspicious activities on Web sites, blogs, online user communities, and other sources that can damage brand equity and consumer confidence."

comScore Networks has released an update on European online holiday shopping activity in the U.K., France and Germany - reporting that the week ending 3 December was the most active cyber shopping week to date in both the U.K. and Germany, with visits to secure web pages up 69 and 72 percent, respectively, versus the pre-holiday shopping period from 28 August - 29 October. During this week, France saw a 79 percent increase versus the pre-holiday shopping period.

Business Week's Jeffrey Gangemi interviews cybersecurity consultant Howard Schmidt (former White House cybersecurity adviser and current president and CEO of R&H Security Consulting).

Bob Tedeschi reports for the New York Times that this holiday season fraudsters are shifting their focus - reporting that "industry leaders say smaller online retailers, and those with strong gift-certificate sales, are being especially hard hit."

comScore Networks has released its latest estimates of consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. ecommerce sites for the 2006 holiday season through December 8. According to comScore, "during the first 38 days of the season this year, total online retail spending reached $15.6 billion, marking a 25-percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005."

Retail Decisions says there is a swelling army of invisible thieves, perhaps the worst kind, who are pillaging online merchants via stolen credit and debit card information. Criminals use stolen credit and debit card information to fraudulently purchase items for resale.

eMarketer reports on Cyber Monday, November 27, which - according to data from comScore Networks - was the biggest ecommerce retail day in history at $608 million, up 26% compared to last year.

The latest edition of The Internet Retailer has arrived - with its ranking of this year's top 50 best ecommerce sites. According to the magazine, "the best e-retailers of 2006 have leapt forward, soaring ahead of myriad other retail sites by adding the latest features and functions that, according to some industry observers, are starting to help differentiate successful e-commerce sites from middling ones." Highlights are sites adding video content, hosting customer reviews and enabling social networking on their sites.

comScore Networks has released data on consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. sites during the first 31 days of the 2006 holiday season to date, which began on November 1. According to comScore, US total online retail spending reached $11.7 billion through December 1, representing a 24-percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005.

Wal-Mart Stores has announced it has experienced nearly a 60 percent increase in traffic this holiday season over last year on its Web site, Walmart.com.

comScore Networks has released data on consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. sites for Cyber Monday and the 2006 holiday season to date. Cyber Monday, which marks the first major spike in online holiday spending as people returned to work after the Thanksgiving weekend, saw slightly higher than expected gains. Cyber Monday sales totaled $608 million, up 26 percent versus the same day last year. During the first 27 days of November this year, total online retail spending reached $9.48 billion, marking a 24-percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005.

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2006, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, was $27.5 billion, an increase of 4.5 percent (±1.5%) from the second quarter of 2006. Total retail sales for the third quarter of 2006 were estimated at $991.7 billion, an increase of 0.7 percent (±0.3%) from the second quarter of 2006. The third quarter 2006 e commerce estimate increased 20.9 percent (±5.3%) from the third quarter of 2005 while total retail sales increased 5.1 percent (±0.3%) in the same period. E-commerce sales in the third quarter of 2006 accounted for 2.8 percent of total sales.

It's Cyber Monday today - when everybody supposedly does their holiday shopping while at the office. Google Checkout has launched its Cyber Monday page of holiday offers where you can receive "$10 off purchases of $30 or more, or $20 off purchases of $50 or more, depending on the merchant." PayPal is offering free shipping and more from its holiday shopping page. Wal-Mart.com is also offering 5 days of super specials available only online - beginning today.

Gartner reports that, while ecommerce sales have experienced consistent growth, "recent security breaches (online and offline) are having a significant impact on buying patterns of U.S. adults. Due to consumer’s concerns about the security of the Internet, nearly $2 billion in U.S. e-commerce sales will be lost in 2006," according to Gartner.

comScore Networks has released its most recent data on consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. sites during the 2006 holiday season, which began November 1, 2006. According to comScore, "during the first 24 days of November this year, total online retail spending reached $8.31 billion, marking a 23 percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005. Black Friday, known for being one of the busier offline consumer shopping days of the year, saw particularly high online sales with $434 million spent, up 42 percent versus last year."

Retail Decisions reports that online volumes surged 109% on a like for like basis on Black Friday. According to ReD, most online shoppers waited until the afternoon to begin their shopping. The peak shopping hour was between 3:00PM - 4:00PM and the peak shopping minute was 2:53PM.

comScore Networks has released the first in a series of reports that measure consumers' online non-travel (retail) spending during the 2006 holiday season, which began November 1, 2006. During the first 19 days of November this year, total online retail spending reached $6.35 billion, marking a 23-percent increase versus the corresponding days in 2005.

Google Checkout has announced that it will be launching a holiday site on Monday, November 27, 2006. According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Google Checkout, 40% of employed U.S. adults say they'll be doing at least some of their online holiday shopping from work this year, with 1 in 4 of those shoppers logging on to track down that perfect gift on Monday, November 27. (57% plan to shop during coffee and lunch breaks, while 34% will wait until the end of the workday.)