As the retail season got underway, a significant number of Americans eschewed shopping malls in favour of internet stores spending a total of $8.5 billion online last month, according to a new study.
The latest eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings shows that online expenditure was 55% higher in November 2003 than in the same month a year earlier. The figures exclude online travel revenues.
Apparel was the most lucrative sector accounting for $1.6 billion while revenues from toys and video games came to $875 million. Online book sales realised $760 million, the same amount that was spent on videos and DVDs.
“The increase in spending suggests that more consumers are now shopping online and consumers appear to be spending more online as well,” said Lori Iventosch-James, director at Harris Interactive.
In a study last month, Jupiter Research predicted that US online retail sales would total almost $17 billion this festive season, a 22% increase over the same period last year (see Festive Online Sales To Surge, Says Jupiter).
Long term business-to-consumer ecommerce forecasts are available US Ecommerce Forecasts From eMarketer.
