US consumers are slowly but surely picking up the habit of shopping online, new figures suggest.

Online retail sales during the final three months of 2001 rose by 13.1% compared to the same period the year before, the US Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

Shoppers spent a total of $32.6bn (�20m) online during 2001, one fifth more than in 2000.

And the internet's share of overall retail sales also edged higher, rising to 1.2% of the total from 1.1% one year earlier.

Slow turnaround

The figures are sure to cheer the few hi-tech investors who have retained their faith in the potential of online retailers, dubbed 'e-tailers.'

Early predictions that consumers would flock to the net were confounded two years ago as shoppers, wary of providing credit card details over the web, stuck stubbornly to traditional retail outlets.

In May 2000, the slower-than-expected take up of online shopping was partly responsible for the collapse of fashion e-tailer boo.com, the first high-profile casualty of the internet meltdown.

Boo's failure dealt investor confidence in online shops a hammer blow from which it has never recovered.

Many smaller e-tailers subsequently folded, while others dramatically scaled down their plans.

Amazon surprise

The latest figures tally with recent evidence that some of the better-established online retailers - dubbed 'e-tailers' - are creeping towards profitability, against the expectations of many analysts.

Last month, online bookseller Amazon cheered investors by unveiling its first ever profit, racking up income of $5m net of all expenses during the final three months of 2001.

Even the most optimistic analysts had predicted that the company would edge into the black only after excluding a range of one-off costs.

And in Europe, the heavily-hyped online travel shop lastminute.com is forecasting that its core UK and French operations will start making money this year.

In both cases, sustained sales growth has given the e-tailers enough breathing space to streamline their businesses and cut costs.

Last month, market monitors Jupiter MMXI said European shoppers spent 71% more in December 2001 than they did one year earlier.