Online sales are expected to surge in the upcoming year-end shopping season as consumers flock to the comparison shopping websites for their holiday purchases, aLos Angeles-based website said Sunday.

Comparison shopping service PriceGrabber.com said its website saw a 77 percent increase in the number of shoppers over last year's Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that is consideredthe kick-off to the retail holiday shopping season.

PriceGrabber-generated customer referrals to merchants led to more than 192 million dollars in sales on Friday, with an average order referral of 420 dollars, according to the website.

Online shopping trends indicate that sales of apparel will increase by 394 percent over last year, while home and garden sales are expected to be up 296 percent, jewelry up 211 percent, sporting goods up 180 percent and electronics up 44 percent.

At PriceGrabber, digital cameras were the top selling product on Friday, followed by gaming consoles, clothing, MP3 players and plasma TVs.

According to a PriceGrabber.com survey released earlier this month, more than 50 percent of online shoppers started their holiday gift shopping before Thanksgiving.

Despite the early start, 75 percent of the shoppers said they still expect to be shopping within the last five days before Christmas.

Jupiter Research, a leading international research advisory organization specializing in business and technology market, said holiday sales will reach 26 billion dollars this year in the United States, up 18 percent over last year.

Source: Xinhua