NEW YORK (AP) – More people did their shopping online this year in one of the shortest holiday shopping seasons in years and that pushed overall sales higher. Early data from Mastercard Spending Pulse shows that retail sales in the US rose 3.4% between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 compared with last year. However, that’s slower growth than in the previous year, when sales grew 5.1%. Online sales rose at a faster pace, up 18.8% from last year.