Online Sales, Rising In A Slowing Economy
Online spending in America is expected to rise 17% this year, despite a sluggish economy that keeps threatening a recession.
Retail sales online, excluding travel purchases, are set to grow to $204 billion in 2008 from $174.5 billion last year, fueled by sales of apparel, computers and autos, according to a survey conducted by Internet analysis firm Forrester Research for Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation trade group. While this would be below the 21% increase seen in the previous year, industry officials attribute it to the maturing of the business, not the sluggish economy.
This comes at a time when traditional retailers are slowing down store growth and closing shops. Shoppers on the lookout for free online shipping deals too might be dissapointed. The study, which surveyed 125 online retailers in February and March, showed that merchants are less interested in using such promotions this year. While 85 percent of online retailers said they used some shipping incentive in the past year, just 35 percent said they would focus more on these types of deals in 2008. [Via]
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