US Online Sales Rise 52% In 2002
US online sales rose by 52% to $78 billion in 2002, bolstered by another record Q4, according to a year-end summary from Forrester Research.
The research firm says that growth was driven by rises in new product categories, retailers’ improvements in digital marketing, web analytics and greater multi-channel marketing. The 52% growth beat Forrester’s own forecasts by almost $6 billion.
The holiday season was particularly strong last year, driven by the enticement of free delivery from a lot of retailers. Also, whereas previously some categories have been strong whilst others have shown little growth, this year almost all retailers across all categories saw sales growth.
Profitability Forrester cites research from Shop.org which shows that more than 50% of online retailers reached profitability in 2001, with more expected to move into profit in 2002.