In a year of slow, slow growth, one area of the economy stands out.  Online sales have been up double digits over last year.  Here's a monthly breakdown from eMarketer:

We'll be curious to see what the final August/back-to-school shopping numbers bring.  And then it is on to holiday spending.  But if spending remains steady with last year, 2011 will have brought substantial growth:

Based on research and interviews with a variety of industry experts, eMarketer expects online holiday sales to be on par with or surpass last year’s results. That would mean growth of at least 12% this year, according to comScore’s historical data. The firm reported that online spending grew 12% on volume of $32.8 billion for the 2010 holiday season, which it defines as the months of November and December.

Read Cautious Optimism for Holiday Season Spending here.