According to Jupiter Research's U.S. Online
Retail Forecast for 2007-2012, e-commerce
sales reached $128 billion in 2008, and that
total is expected to climb to $148 billion this
year!
A study by The Conference Board and
TNS Retail Forward found that 5% of online
households plan to spend more than $500 at
e-commerce Web sites this year ... that's a four
percent increase over 2008!
Forrester Research also revealed that 72%
of companies surveyed said economic conditions
have not impacted their e-business technology
plans. In fact, over half of the companies said
they planned to increase their e-business
technology budgets. Forrester analyst Brian
Walker said businesses will continue to make the
investment in e-commerce because they understand
the power of the online channel.
A sweeping number of consumers are taking their
holiday shopping online. ATG and The
E-Tailing Group predicted that 49% of U.S.
holiday gift shoppers would turn to the Web in
2008, marking the first year ever that Web
shopping would surpass in-store shopping.
Research released by ComScore and
MasterCard in early 2009 show that ATG's
prediction about a jump in holiday online
spending was accurate! ComScore's Gian Fulgoni
reported that, "... e-commerce trends
outperformed overall consumer spending in
several product categories, which is to say that
e-commerce continued to capture an increasing
share of consumers' wallet."
Shop.org and Forrester Research
report that in the first quarter of 2009, U.S.
online retail sales rose an average of 11%!
While most brick-and-mortar establishments
without a Web site were reporting losses, 58% of
the surveyed retailers with an online presence
reported that their Web sales increased during
the first quarter!
