The first reports on the Christmas shopping season are promising but the big thing is the increasing share of gifts bought online, reports the New York Times. One in three households made an online purchase this season.

It's the same old story - just more so. Online spending reached $18.1 billion in November and December, a 25 percent increase over 2004, according to the research firm ComScore Networks.

Nielsen/NetRatings puts the figure even higher at just over 30 billion. (Nielsen adds in auction sites like eBay as well as all the e-tail sites).

Ever since the dot.coms busted four or five years ago, successful retailers have pursued a "bricks-and-clicks" strategy. They operate mall stores like they always have but use the Web as a second front for displaying merchandise and taking orders. Those orders can often be picked up at the bricks-and-mortar location.

And Amazon is the exception that proves the rule that traditional retailers were the main beneficiary of the Internet.