Much like the weather here in the Northern Hemisphere, online retailers appear to have weathered the worst of the winter months and many report that they may be starting to see sunnier days.

Last week (April 1 – 3), Shop.org and Forrester conducted the Quarterly Online Sales Flash Survey, which asked** retailers about YOY growth of top line Web sales for the quarter (January through March, 2009).  Similar to two flash surveys that we conducted during the Holiday Season, the results provide our industry with one gauge of how online retail is faring.

A total of 80 retailers participated in this anonymous survey.  A quick recap of some of the findings:

• Across the board, fully 58% of retailers reported that their Web sales increased during Q1.  A further 13% noted that their sales remained flat compared to the same period a year earlier (in this economy, actually maintaining sales levels is hardly something to sneeze at).
• In terms of how specific segments fared, over two thirds (68%) of multichannel retailers and branded manufacturers reported increased sales.  39% of online only retailers (“pure plays”) increased their sales vs. a year earlier, while almost a quarter (22%) experienced flat growth.
• Large retailers (defined as $100 million plus in annual Web sales) did particularly well – 87% reported increasing their Web sales.  However, approximately half of medium ($10MM-$100MM in annual Web sales) and small ($10MM and under) sized retailers also realized increases.

As part of the survey, we also asked for voluntary comments on related online retail trends – one third of survey participants shared insights with us.  While comments vary from retailer to retailer, one thing we did start to hear (if here and there, to be sure) is that March saw some improvement over January and February.  We trust that April, May and June will take their heed from that budding movement.

Take a look at the more detailed data results and broader summary deck.  As always, I welcome your comments and thoughts.  We’ll be in touch again in early July to check in on Q2 results.  Many thanks to all retailers who participated in the Q1 survey!

**The survey question was, “How did your online sales (top line) for the period January 1, 2009 through March 31, 2009 perform relative to the same period last year (Jan. 1 through March 31, 2008)?  Revenues have:…”