Jewelry down, furniture up this season

RESTON, Va., Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Early online shopping statistics suggest this year's U.S. holiday shoppers bypassed jewelry, watches and flowers in favor of furniture and appliances.

Andrew Lipsman, an analyst with comScore Networks, which analyzes online shopping by U.S. consumers, said holiday season furniture and appliance sales rose about 70 percent over last year's levels, while sales of holiday mainstays such as watches and jewelry fell, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Lipsman did not say how far jewelry sales slipped from last year's levels because he said the figure could be changed significantly by a few large purchases.

"Some of the bigger losers were luxury goods," he said. "In better economic conditions, that category was growing faster."

Carl Prindle, chief executive of Waltham, Mass., based Furniture.com, which oversees online sales for regional furniture companies, said holiday season sales this year rose 110 percent over 2006 levels.

"It's certainly counter to our expectations," Prindle said. "Maybe it's people within a family saying we're not going to waste money on things that aren't meaningful."