The results are in. This press release from comScore confirms this year’s increase in online shopping, despite the economic crisis. Although sales from normal retailers have been flat compared to last year, the sales in e-commerece have increased by 7 percent.

So who’s taking advantage of the good times? Many of the online stores have been experiencing technical difficulties and downtime, including Sears and Gap which are two of the biggest online sellers. You can read on some horrifying details on what these online stores went through during the most important week of the year here . We suggest they find themselves a better platform (or even the best platform!) so instead of worrying about these technical issues they can concentrate on other matters important for serving their customers.

Now for those of you who do have the good platform, here are some links to keep you busy with the “other maters”:

- The design fanatics can read an interesting article titled 8 tactics for retailers for some good design tricks on email marketing, which has become a very popular tool this season.

- Given the importance of viral marketing as the most effective way to market your store, there’s a very good post giving some first-rate info on how to use Twitter for developing personas and understanding your customers.

- Last but not least, for staying in touch with the ever changing needs of your customers, read on a 2008 eHoliday study that can give you some good ideas. It mentions in order of importance, the ability to see the cart total prior to checkout, value for money, clear product descriptions, a free return shipping offer or policy, and a strong merchant reputation. Only after this criteria such as guaranteed on time delivery and having the product available to ship immediately, follow.