E-Commerce Times Talkback

Re: Online Shopping Expected To Rise
Posted by: Renee Degross 2003-11-07 09:23:55

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More people will buy holiday gifts online this year -- and they'll have a little more time to do it. Those are the findings of Jupiter Research's annual holiday forecast, which predicts online sales of $16.8 billion in November and December, up 21.7 percent from $13.8 billion last year. The survey found that some online retailers plan to woo procrastinating shoppers with extended order cutoff dates. Twenty-two percent of retailers surveyed say they will take orders through December 23 from customers willing to pay for express shipping. Last year the cutoff was December 20 for most retailers.

Re: Online Shopping Expected To Rise
Posted by: davidport 2003-12-05 13:36:46 In reply to: Renee Degross

Unless I'm incorrectly translating Department of Commerce data, an important point for the overall growth of consumer direct commerce (which nobody seems to have noticed) is that the rise in physical goods purchased online is being offset by a decrease in conventional mail-order. Online and mail-order sales combined are remaining relatively stagnant at about 3.5% -- which means, I suspect, that online growth is soon likely to hit a very solid wall!
Please see the table at www.smartbox.com/smallpercentage.html ...Would you agree?
Sincerely
David Porter