US online retail sales increased by 25% to almost $56 billion in 2003, according to figures from BizRate.com.
BizRate does not take into account travel, auction or event ticket sales and found that the average purchase price fell from $134 in 2002 to $113 last year. However, online retail purchases increased by 47% pushing total spend up from $44.94 billion to $55.93 billion.
In its autumn outlook, eMarketer predicted that online retail sales would total $55.0 billion for the full year, rising to $72.6 billion in 2004 (see US Ecommerce Forecasts From eMarketer).
US Online Retail Sales, By Quarter ($ bn) | |||
2002 | 2003 | % Change | |
Q1 | 9.78 | 12.33 | 26 |
Q2 | 10.11 | 12.41 | 23 |
Q3 | 10.02 | 12.85 | 28 |
Q4 | 15.04 | 18.38 | 22 |
Full Year | 44.94 | 55.93 | 25 |
Source: BizRate.com, January 2004 |