Jewelry and watches was one of the fastest growing product categories during the holiday season, according to comScore’s “2005 Year End Online Spending Summary.”

During the holiday season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 31), the “Jewelry and Watches” category grew 27 percent when compared with the 2004 holiday season, according to the Reston, Va.-based consumer research company. It was the fifth fastest growing category of the season, behind “Apparel and Accessories” (36 percent), “Computer Software,” excluding PC Games, (36 percent), “Home & Garden” (32 percent), and “Toys & Hobbies” (32 percent).

The comScore report says the exceptional growth in a broad range of products (including jewelry and watches) is the result of consumers’ increased comfort in purchasing online.

Overall, online non-travel spending during the 2005 holiday season totaled $19.6 billion, a 25-percent increase over the $15.7 billion posted during the corresponding period in 2004. Total non-travel Internet spending for the year totaled $82.3 billion, a 24 percent increase over the previous year.

“This was clearly another very strong year for e-commerce,” Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, said in a statement.

Fulgoni adds that comScore estimates that online spending on non-travel items now represents approximately 6 percent of all consumer retail spending, excluding expenditures for autos, gasoline, and food.

“So, a 24 percent annual increase in online spending represents more than a full percentage point of consumers’ expenditures, clearly showing that the traditional metric—retail same-store sales—alone is no longer sufficient to paint an accurate picture of trends in consumer spending,” he said.

JCK