Online retail sales in the U.S. may have reached the bottom for 2009, but a return to double-digit growth of previous years is unlikely with the current economy, according to comScore.

In a Webinar about the online economy in the first quarter of this year, comScore compared zero growth with a 3 percent drop in the holiday fourth quarter.

“Although online retail spending growth was flat in the first quarter, this does represent a slight improvement over the disappointing fourth quarter,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

“These results would appear to indicate that the economy is finally exhibiting some signs of stability, and with consumer confidence beginning to improve, I’m optimistic that the online channel is poised for a return to positive growth in the second half of 2009.”

Concerns over unemployment, consumers continuing to save and slightly higher gas prices are still slowing online retail sales, which continue to do better than traditional retail stores.

Understandably, job security was the main economic concern named by respondents from all income levels, with mid-to low-income earners equally worried about prices.

Still, flat online retail sales performed better than an 8 percent decrease in first quarter retail sales.

“Clearly, ecommerce is picking up market share,” Fulgoni said. “If (retailers) can focus on ecommerce, that’s where the dollars seem to be shifting in retail.”

The growth was fueled by banks’ aggressive customer acquisition strategies and heightened financial interest among online banking customers wanting to keep a closer eye on their personal finances.

After several years of particularly strong growth in the use of online banking at the top 10 banks, the second half of 2007 showed the first signs of softness as sequential quarterly growth rates fell below 1 percent, but then recovered somewhat in 2008 as banks became more aggressive in their online banking customer acquisition efforts.

When asked about their satisfaction with their financial institutions, the percentage of respondents indicating they were highly satisfied with their banks (down 1%) and credit card issuers (down 3%) declined marginally compared to 2008 and were at least as high as the levels seen in 2007. The decline was more among brokerage firms, which saw their highly satisfied customers decline from 70 percent of respondents in 2008 to 58 percent in 2009.

“Given the performance of the financial markets in the past year, it’s not surprising that brokerage customers with declining balances would not be as satisfied as last year,” said Marc Trudeau, comScore senior director.

“It’s interesting that a negative halo effect was not seen with respect to banks and credit card issuers, perhaps because of the reliability of services and the outreach they provided during a time of financial strain for many customers.”

More than 60 percent of online banking customers expressed interest in free identity theft services, while free credit score monitoring appealed to 52 percent. Around 37 percent of respondents showed a strong interest in online personal financial management tools, with half indicating they were willing to pay a modest monthly fee for the services.

“That customers are asking for more services to help them manage their personal finances during these economically-challenging times is a positive sign for banks,” added Trudeau.

“It’s clear that most customers are paying close attention to their personal finances, and, consequently, for the banks that step up and provide customers with the tools they’re requesting, it’s an opportunity to both cultivate and solidify customer relationships and to potentially drive incremental revenue as well.”