Three recent reports say that online retail sales are on the rise. According to MasterCard, ecommerce sales rose 15.2 percent annually in June, the eighth straight month of double-digit growth. In fact, web purchases for the last 23 months have gone up. MasterCard compiled the results by looking at a range of credit and debit cards, as well as cash and checks. The company did not reveal any indication of total sales, but there were details such as online sales of women's clothing, which rose in June by 12.2 percent.

Another report, this one from Mercent.com, looked at ecommerce sales that came through the company's online channel management platform. The report says that for the second quarter of 2011, ecommerce sales rose 17 percent. Merchant.com is projecting positive results for the upcoming holiday season. ?We anticipate the 2011 holiday selling season to deliver solid double-digit figures, trending slightly weaker to be in line with holiday 2010,? the report says.

ComScore.com and Forrester Research are putting dollar totals on those growth numbers. Quarterly sales of ecommerce vendors totaled $38 billion per quarter for the first quarter of 2011, a 12 percent rise over last year. Shoppers using the Internet increased by seven percent, while transactions per buyer rose nine percent. The report also notes that delivery companies, FedEx and UPS, are having banner years as well.