2013 is set to be another banner year for online sales as consumer spending increased 22% to $5.3 billion on Thanksgiving weekend, emerging tech website vatornews reported. Last year, shoppers shelled out only $4.3 billion in the same time period. On Cyber Monday, dubbed as the busiest online shopping day of the year, shoppers spent a record-breaking $1.74 billion, the highest amount spent in one day. Citing eMarketer, the report said consumers are forecasted to spend $262.3 billion online this year. The data does not include travel and event tickets. Last year, consumers spent only $225.3 billion online, including the amount spent for mobile commerce.

The story is different for brick-and-mortar retailers, however, who are already suffering a panic attack due to low sales. The report said retailers make up to 40% of their revenue in November and December. Citing data from the National Retail Federation released this month, the report said retail sales plunged on Thanksgiving weekend for the first time in four years. Overall spending for the weekend was projected by the NRF to reach only $57.4 billion this year compared to last year's $59.1 billion.

As of the present, business from ecommerce only comprises $1 out of every $10 spent but it is expected to grow substantially in the years to come. The estimates from eMarketer revealed that ecommerce spending is set to grow to $440 billion by 2017. However, growth rate of ecommerce is set to slow. This year, the growth of ecommerce is pegged at 16.4% but next year, eMarketer forecasts growth of only 14.6%. In 2015, ecommerce growth rate will go down to only 14.2%, the report said.

The growth rate for retail is even bleaker. Last year, the NRF saw a 4.2% growth in retail but that has been cut to 3.4%, the report said.