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The figure was up sharply on the first quarter of 2000.
The total, adjusted for seasonal, holiday, and trading-day differences, was USD6.994 billion, a rise of 33.5 percent on a year previously but down 19.3 percent from the final months of 2000.
The latest statistics come from the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce in the US.
Overall non-adjusted retail sales, including e-commerce, in Q1 were USD765.2 billion, an increase of 2.3 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
This means that while overall retail sales were up, e-commerce sales were down.
E-commerce sales in the first quarter account for just 0.9 percent of total sales compared to 1.0 percent in Q4 of 2000.
The sampling method for the report cover over 12,000 retail firms in the US and coverage includes all retailers whether or not they are engaged in e-commerce.
Firms are asked each month to report e-commerce sales separately for the purpose of the survey.
The Census explained that it counted e-commerce sales as sales of goods and services over the Internet, extranets, Electronic Data Exchange or other on-line systems. Payment may or may not be made on-line.
It added also that new businesses selling via the Internet are added to the monthly survey.
The margin of error for the change in US retail e-commerce sales from the fourth quarter to the first quarter is approximately 2.6 percent, giving a range of -21.9 percent to -16.7 percent. Range estimates are computed-based on the particular sample selected and canvassed.
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