Design Your Own Timberland

In 2006 e-commerce made history with $18.3 billion in revenue, bringing online clothing sales, tallying in at $17.2 billion in the U.S., beyond those of computer hardware and software, reports The New York Times.

Fashion is a notoriously difficult online category as most products need to be tried on before purchase. But better viewing options, the continued adoption of broadband and encouraging benefits like free shipping on buys and returns, clothing sales have become an online norm.

Further, JC Penney's sales show that e-commerce is replacing the catalog. e-tail accounted for just eight percent of the entire category, while computers accounted for 41 percent in its own.

Total online sales grew 25 percent last year to $229 billion.

MarketingCharts provides additional data from the Shop.org/Forrester study that's the basis of the Times story.