For most business sectors “flat is the new up” is the newly coined phrase of the recession.  As the holiday season comes to an end and the final online retail sales for 2008 are calculated, it looks like at least for now online retailers are holding their own.  Although comScore estimates that online retailers saw a 3% decline in sales between November 1 and December 23, as a whole the online retail industry saw an estimated 7.2% increase in sales from 2007 until 2008 according to eMarketer.  Sales are projected to grow at an even slower pace in 2009, but that story will have to wait to be told.

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