Online Sales Surge

A study conducted by Shop.org, the online retailing division of the National Retail Federation, and Forrester Research reports that U.S. retail sales on the Internet are expected to climb by 26 percent to $96 billion in 2003.

The survey of more than 130 retailers found that last year, online sales jumped 48 percent to $76 billion, or 3.6 percent of total U.S. retail sales, while for 2003, those sales are expected to rise to 4.5 percent.

“In a time when the retail industry has been extremely challenged, it is encouraging to see the online channel continue to grow, and even better, start to make money,” says Kate Delhagen, consumer markets research director with Forrester.

For clicks-and-mortar retailers with both online and offline stores, the study found 46 percent of customers who shopped online also purchased goods at stores, while 17 percent of offline customers also shopped online.