Cheery outlook for holiday e-shopping season
Retailers that have no online presence are eyeing the upcoming holiday season somewhat anxiously. The credit crunch following the subprime mortgage crisis is expected to squeeze many consumers' budgets. Also, fuel prices still remain higher than retailers would like. Online shopping is less affected by these trends.
Online retail sales for this holiday season are expected to increase by 20% over sales from the 2006 season, surpassing US$39 billion, according to JupiterResearch's US Online Retail Holiday Forecast for 2007.
This growth will be driven not only by veteran online shoppers - who are projected to increase their holiday spending by 13% to an average of $314 per person - but also by first-timers. As a category, new online buyers are expected to increase more than 6% this year, compared with the number of e-commerce newbies in 2006.
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