This holiday season was remarkably successful - according to recent analyses, the total for online sales between Halloween and Christmas were 15 percent higher this year than in 2009, according to Bloomberg.

SpendingPulse, a firm based in New York that measures retail sales, noted that web-based holiday sales between October 31 and December 22 reached $36.4 billion. During the same period in 2009, numbers peaked at $31.4 billion. Much of that success was due to online clothing sales, which grew by 26 percent.

"It's a pretty positive story," Michael McNamara, vice president at SpendingPulse, told the news source. "Retailers started earlier, in the second week of November, and were more aggressive with their tactics - discounts and promotions. That seemed to drive growth."

Day-to-day online sales surpassed $1 billion six times this year, while only three days achieved such success in 2009. McNamara added that online sales were responsible for a larger amount of total sales this year.

Online shopping figures may have been so high because some consumers wanted to avoid crowds on busy shopping days such as Black Friday or Christmas Eve.

According to the Los Angeles times, this shopping season was one of the best in years, and sales may have reached pre-recession levels.