Retail Decisions (ReD), a world leader in card fraud prevention, payments processing and card issuing, reports that US online retail spend reached a staggering peak between 12:00 and 13:00 on Black Friday, with a massive $183 million being spent in just one hour, an increase of 61%, on a like for like basis, versus last year. According to ReD, the busiest minute happened at 12:59, when online sales reached $5.6 million, up 131% on the year before.

- The busiest minute for online retail sales saw a 131% like-for-like increase on last year

- Between 12:00 and 13:00 retail sales peaked at $183 million, an increase of 61%

- Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, ended on a high at $3B, up 52%

By the end of the day on Black Friday, online retail sales had reached $3 billion, up on last year by a staggering 52%.This is a good indication of consumers' renewed confidence in the economy following the extreme drop in sales experienced in 2008.

Carl Clump, ReD's CEO, says, "Online retailers started discounting heavily on Black Friday, luring consumers with cash back offers, large discounts and special deals on the most popular products. ReD has seen an early response to the sales from the American public with the busiest shopping hour of 2009 between 1200 and 1300, an hour earlier than 2008."

The TomTom GPS Navigation System topped the shopping charts today, with the Kodak Digital Camera, the Nintendo Wii and the Ice Age 3 DVD following closely behind (see list of top ten most popular products below). The top four most fraud prone products are currently gift cards, the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and the new Xbox game, "Call of Duty".

Mr Clump further commented: "Whilst online retailers witnessed a huge upturn in sales this Black Friday, fraudsters are also 'spending' more, with an average value of $248 per transaction online, 23% more than the average genuine customer."

ReD's data also highlights an uneven rate of recovery across the nation in the wake of the credit crunch. For example, online retail growth has been stronger in California, compared to New York, since the beginning of November and throughout the Thanksgiving holiday period. Last year Californians were making just 10% more purchases online than New Yorkers, this has now increased to 26% in 2009.